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OLD ROADS OUT OF 
PHILADELPHIA 




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OLD ROADS OUT 
OF PHILADELPHIA 



BY 
JOHN T. JAIMS 

MiOMniuR CITY ninTf)ny HfxjiHTV of I'liir.Aruii.i'mA and oit run iiiBionirjAT, 
8f)f;iii/i Y oir i'I'Innhyi.vania; a iitiioii oir " imiai, HKJKiicn fuom onu iiiHifjiiY," 

" WINNING TIIM (lltiSUON COUNTUY," "TJIM ALAHKAN rA'l'liriNHKU," IDTO. 



WITU 117 ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP 



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.-':--■ i-i'-i^'-i 






rillLADELnilA AND LONDON 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

1917 



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COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER. 1917 



PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA, U S. A. 



QGl 29 1317 



©C1,A477231 



FOREWORD 

HOW many of those who speed along the roads 
out of Philadelphia in their motorcars, who ride 
in trolleys, or take refreshing walks, know of the 
roads on which they travel or of the things that they 
see by the way? This volume has been prepared for 
the purpose of adding to the enjoyment of outdoor life, 
entertainment, knowledge of fascinating bits of local 
history, and pleasing adventure. 

For the vicinity of Philadelphia is rich in histor- 
ical interest. Boston alone, among American cities, 
can compare with it in this respect, but Philadelphia 
has the advantage of Boston in that so many of the 
historic buildings and their surroundings are still prac- 
tically in the state in which they were a century or 
more ago. 

Some one has compared the old roads out of Phila- 
delphia to the sticks of a lady's fan. If an opened fan 
is laid on the map of Philadelphia and its surroimding 
country westward, the boundary sticks may be made 
to conform to the Delaware. The city itself will be 
covered by the open portion of the fan, while the radi- 
ating sticks will correspond after a fashion to the ten 
great old roads, several of which date from the later 
years of the seventeenth century. 

It is quite possible for the automobilist, in a single 
half day, starting from the first of these roads to the 



FOREWORD 

south, the Wilmington Turnpike — say at a point fif- 
teen miles from the City Hall — to go across country 
on a line roughly parallel with the boundaries of the 
city, crossing in turn the Baltimore, the West Chester, 
the Lancaster, the Gulph, the Ridge, the Germantown, 
the Bethlehem, the York and the Bristol roads. 

After such a trip, the roads might with great profit 
and pleasure be traversed one after another, to a dis- 
tance of thirty, forty or fifty miles from the city, or 
even farther, though thirty or thirty-five miles will 
include the most of the historic portion of any of these 
roads, at least so far as the history is boimd up with 
Philadelphia. 

Most of the roads are well surfaced, and the auto- 
mobile owner may take all of the trips outlined in the 
chapters of this volume. Moreover, car lines are so 
well placed that one can cover much of the territory 
indicated by trolley. Thus there is a trolley on the 
Wilmington road as far as Wilmington; the Baltimore 
road has a trolley from Angora to Media; the West 
Chester road has a car line its entire length; the Ridge 
road may be seen from the car window; the traveler 
along the Germantown road can go quite a distance 
by car; much of the Bethlehem Turnpike may be seen 
on the cars of the Liberty Bell route; there is a trolley 
to Willow Grove on the York Road, from Willow 
Grove to Doylestown on what, by some early writers, 
was spoken of as a branch of the York Road, and from 
Willow Grove to Hatboro on the main stem of the 
York Road, while the trolley line keeps on or close to 
the Bristol road all the way to Morrisville. Only the 



FOREWORD 

Lancaster and the Gulph roads are entirely without 
trolley service, though much of the Lancaster Pike 
may be reached from stations on the Philadelphia and 
Western to Strafford, while a convenient point on the 
Gulph road may be reached over the main line of the 
same line. 

The roads can be seen best by those who will go 
over them in a leisurely manner, stopping to look for 
all houses and churches and for other spots with asso- 
ciations that take one far back into the past, and going 
down the side roads where many of the places most 
worth seeing are foimd. 

It has not been the purpose of the author to tell of 
all the historic points on any road. To do this would 
make the book unreadable. Then it would not be 
right to deprive the traveler of the fun of making dis- 
coveries in unexpected places. One who begins the 
search in earnest will find spots that are not mentioned 
in any book. He may stumble on a building of which 
even those best informed in the history of Philadel- 
phia and its surroundings are ignorant. WThen such 
a place is found, the next thing is to learn its story. 
Concerning many of the old places no story can be 
told; but it is surprising how much can be learned when 
the inquirer persists, exhausting every avenue of dis- 
covery. And it will be found that there are few pleas- 
ures greater than that of those who roam the country 
about Philadelphia and piece together the story of 
the pioneers in connection with their houses and their 
favorite haunts. 

The writer is glad to acknowledge his indebtedness 



FOREWORD 

to Frank H. Shelton for the use of many of the photo- 
graphs reproduced in the chapters on the Baltimore 
and the West Chester roads; to Frank H. Taylor, for 
the use of historical data; to E. R. Longstreth, for 
suggestions of great value; to Lincoln Cartledge and 
Fred P, Powers, for the use of photographs taken by 
them; to A. O. H. Grier, for Wilmington photographs; 
to Ernest SpofiFord, Assistant Librarian of the Library 
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; to H. G. 
Blatchley, Rev. Irving R. Wagner and Dr. Collin 
Foulkrod, for companionship on a number of the roads; 
and to Ph. B. Wallace and Henry C. Howland, archi- 
tectural and landscape photographers, who accom- 
panied him on his trips to many of the points men- 
tioned in the volume, and took most of the photographs 
reproduced. 

The chapter on the Lancaster Turnpike was already 
printed when action was taken by the Pennsylvania 
Legislature that made free to all users the last toll sec- 
tions of this pioneer turnpike. 

J. T. F. 
Philadelphia, 1917 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

I. IN OLD PHILADELPHIA 15 

II THE KINGS HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 27 

III. THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 77 

IV. THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 96 

V. ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 110 

VI. THE GULPH ROAD 147 

VII. THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 173 

VIII. THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 204 

IX. THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 234 

X. THE OLD YORK ROAD 257 

XL TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 285 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

The Gulph Rock, on the Old Gulph Road Frontispiece 

Photo by Henry C. Howland, Philadelphia 
A Typical Philadelphia Street of the Early Period 20 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace, Philadelphia 
The First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia 21 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Black Horse Inn, Philadelphia 21 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Ltjke Wistar Morris House 24 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Road from Philadelphia to Wilmington 28 

From "The Traveller's Directory," 1802 
John Bartram's House 38 

Photo by Phihp B. Wallace 
The Blue Bell Tavern 38 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Said to be the Oldest House in Darby 39 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton, Philadelphia 
The White Horse Tavern, Norwood 39 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
The Birthplace of John Morton, Essington 44 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
The Washington Hotel, Chester 44 

Photo by J. E. Green, Chester 
The Town Hall, Chester 45 

Photo by J. E. Green 
The Caleb Pusey House, Upland 54 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
Monument to John Morton, Chester 54 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
The Robinson House at Naaman's Creek 55 

Photo by Fred. Perry Powers, Philadelphia 
Chichester Meeting House 66 

Photo by J. E. Green 
The Richardson Homestead, Wilmington 66 

Photo by The Royal Studios, Wilmington 
Old Swedes' Church, Wiij«ington 67 

Photo by The Royal Studios 

xi 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Tatnall, Homestead, Wilmington 67 

Photo by The Royal Studios 
Latimeria, Wilmington 74 

Photo by The Royal Studios 
The Bridge Over Darby Creek 78 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 

AVONDALE, THE DoORWAT 82 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 

AvONDALE, ON CrUM CrEEK 82 

Photo by Henry C. Hov/Iand 
Thomas Leiper's Vault, Avondale 83 

Photo by Henry C. Rowland 
The Thomas Leiper Lock of the Leiper Canal, Near Avondale 83 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
Rock at Waterville, on Ridley Creek 86 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
Old Providence Inn, Media 86 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
The Black Horse Tavern 87 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Rose Tree Inn, Near Media 90 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
Washington's Headquarters, Near Chadd's Ford 90 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Lafayette's Headquarters, Near Chadd's Ford 91 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
Turnpike Bridge Over the Brandywine, at Chadd's Ford 91 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
A Farm House on Manoa Road 98 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
An Old House on Darby Creek 98 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
The Octagonal School House, Near Newtown Square 99 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
The Drove Tavern at Broomall 99 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
The Old President Tavern, Edgemont 106 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
15 Miles to Philadelphia 107 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
The John Yarnall House, Edgemont 107 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
American Stage Wagon 118 

From "Travels through North America," 1800 

xii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Amehican Friends Going to Meeting 119 

From "Robert Sutcliffe's Travels," 1811 
Pont Reading House, Ardmore Junction 128 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
Smoke Hole in Wall of Havehford Meeting House 128 

Photo by Frank H. Shelton 
The Buck Tavern, Haverford 129 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
Radnor Meeting House 129 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
The Sorrel Horse Tavern, Ithan Road 132 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
The Old Eagle School at Strafford 134 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
St. David's Church, Radnor 134 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Watnesborough, Near Paoli 135 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
Watnesborough, Rear View 135 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 

The East Caln Meeting House, Near East Downingtown 142 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The General Warren Tavern, Near the Twentieth Milestone 142 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
A Residence in East Downingtown 143 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Oldest House in East Downingtown 143 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
Poplar Lane, Near Gulph Mills 158 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The King of Prussia Tavern 159 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 

BLarriton House, Near Brtn Mawr 159 

The Bray House, Near Valley Forge 162 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 

Washington's Headquarters at Valley Forge 162 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 

The Knoll, Phcenixville 163 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 

Moore Hall, Near Phcenixville , 163 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 

The Angel House, Harbblanville 184 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 

xiii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Residence of Dr. William Smith, First Provost of the Univer- 
sity OF Pennsylvania, Falls of Schuylkill 184 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
Mill Grove, Near Protectory Station 185 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Fatlands, from the Schxttlkill River 185 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Fatlands, from the Road 192 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
House of John Price Wetherill, Sr., Near Protectory Station 193 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Old Bridge Over the Perkiomen 200 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Interior of a Covered Turnpike Bridge 201 

Photo by PhiUp B. Wallace 
Umstad Manor 201 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The House of Francis Daniel Pastorius, Germantown 210 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Whitemarsh Valley Country Club 216 

Photo by Phihp B. Wallace 
The Rex House, Chestnut Hill 217 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Thomas Hovenden's Studio at Plymouth Meeting 217 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace J 

NoRRiTON Presbyterian Church 220 

Photo by Phihp B. Wallace 
Where David Rittenhouse Lived 220 

Photo by Phihp B. Wallace 

The Old Trappe Church 221 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Pulpit and Corner of Gallery, Old Trappe Church 221 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Emlen House, Near St. Thomas' Church 238 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Wentz Farm House, Near St. Thomas' Church 242 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Hope Lodge, Whitemarsh 242 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 

The Highlands, Skippack Pike 243 

Photo by PhiUp B. Wallace 
Doorway, The Highlands 244 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
xiv 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Dawesfield, on the Skippack Pike 244 

Photo by Henry C. Howland 
The Peter Wentz House, Near Center Point 245 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Foulke House, Penllyn 245 

Photo by Fred. Perry Powers 
Upper Inn, Montgomery Square 252 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Upper Inn, Rear View 252 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Old Farm House, Between Montgomeryville and Doylestown. . 253 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
An Old House in Bethlehem 253 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Grange Farm, Near Tabor Station 262 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Old Farm House, Butler Place 262 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Horsham Meeting House 263 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Graeme Park 263 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Bridge Over the Neshaminy, Near Doylestown 270 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Old Barn at Halliwell 276 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Old Farm House, Between Doylestown and Centerville 276 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Library at Hatboro 277 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Old Farm House, Near Norriton Road 277 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Abandoned Farm House: a Study in Gables and Chimneys 282 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Benjamin Parry House at New Hope (Coryell's Ferry). . 282 

Photo by Phihp B. Wallace 
The Neely House, Near New Hope 283 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Sections op Road Map from Philadelphia to New York. . . . 286, 287 

From "The Traveller's Directory," 1802 
Commodore Stephen Decatur House, Frankford 290 

Photo by Lincoln Cartledge, Philadelphia 
Port Royal, Frankford 290 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 

XV 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Chalklet Hall, Frankford 291 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Bridge Over the Penntpack, at Holmesbueg 291 

Photo by Lincoln Cartledge 
Andaltjsla 300 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Bridge Over the Poqtjessing at Torresdale 301 

Photo by Lincoln Cartledge 
The Red Lion Inn, on the Poqtjessing 301 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Penn Rhyn 304 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Old Clock House and the Castle of the State-in-Schuylkill, 

Near Eddington 304 

Photo by H. Parker Rolfe, Philadelphia 
Bristol College, Near Croydon 305 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
China Hall, Near Croydon 310 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
Bolton Farm, Near Tullytown 310 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 
The Town Hall, Bristol 311 

Photo by Philip B. Wallace 

Map of the Old Roads Out of Philadelphia 327 



BOOKS CONSULTED 
IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS VOLUME 

Biography of the Signers (Caesar Rodney, John Morton and George 

Clymer) Wain and Sanderson. 

Philadelphia, 1823. 

Bristol Pike, The S. F. Hotchkin. 

George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia. 

Colonial Houses of Philadelphia Eberlein and Lippincott. 

J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 

Diary of George Washington, 1789-1791. Edited by Benson J. Lossing. 
Charles B. Richardson, New York, 1870. 

Guide Book to Historic Germantown . . . Charles F. Jiinkin. 
Sites and Relics Society, Germantown. 

History, Life and Manners in the United States, 

182^24 By a Traveler. 

New Haven, 1826. 

History of Old Germantown Dr. Naaman H. Keyser. 

Horace F. McCann, Germantown, 1907. 

History of the City and People of Philadelphia. Oberholtzer. 

Thos. J. Clark Pub. Co., Chicago and New York. 

History of Philadelphia Scharff and Westcott. 

Everts & Co., Philadelphia, 1884. 

Itinerary of General Washington from 1775 

to 1783 William S. Baker. 

J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 

Journal of a Tour in the Unsettled Parts of the 

U. S. A., 1796-97 Francis Bailey. 

Letters and Recollections of George Washington. 

Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. 

Life of David Rittenhouse James Renwick. * 

Boston, 1837. 

Monographs of the City History Society of 

Philadelphia. 

xvij 



BOOKS CONSULTED 

New Travels in the United States Jean Pierre Brissot de War- 

ville. 
Dublin, 1792. 

Old York Road S. F. Hotchkin. 

Binder & Kelly, Philadelphia, 1892. 

Old York Road Mrs. Anne de B. Mears. 

Published for the Author by Harper & Brothers, New York, 1892. 

Pennsylvania Magazine of- History and 

Biography Historical Society of Penna. 

Pennsylvania Railroad, The William B. Sipes. 

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Raihoad Guide, 1856. 

Presbytery of the Log College Thomas Murphy. 

Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia. 

Proceedings on Unveiling the Monument to 

Cifisar Rodney Thomas F. Bayard. 

Wilmington, Delaware. 

Recollections of Samuel Breck Edited by H. E. Scudder. 

Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, 1871. 

Retrospections of America, 1797-1811. . .. John Bernard. 
Harper & Brothers, New York, 1887. 

Saliie Wister's Journal Edited by Albert Cook Meyer. 

Ferris & Leach, Philadelphia. 

Seven Ages of Washington, The . ..... Owen Wister. 

Macmillan & Co., New York. 

Some Colonial Mansions Thomas Allen Glenn. 

Henry T. Coates & Co., Philadelphia. 

Story of Kennett, The Bayard Taylor. 

G eorge P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 

Tales of Old Taverns Fred. Perry Powers. 

Sites and Relics Society, Germantown. 

Thomas Rodney's Diary Caesar A. Rodney. 

Historical Society of Delaware, Wilmington. 

Traveller's Directory, 1802 Morse and Jones. 

Philadelphia, 1802. 

Traveller's Directory through the U.S.A., 1819 . John Melish. 
Philadelphia, 1819. 

Traveller's Directory for 1822 John Melish. 

Philadelphia, 1822. 

Travels in North America, 1824 George Philips. 

Dubhn, 1811. 
xviii 



BOOKS CONSULTED 

Travels in North America, 1804-5 Robert Sutcliffe. 

York, England, 1811. 

Travels in North America, 1806 Thomas Ashe. 

London, 1809. 

Travels into North America Peter Kalm. 

London, 1771. 

Travels in the Confederation, 1783-1784. From the German of Johann 

David Schoepf. (Translated by Alfred Morrison.) 

William J. Campbell, Philadelphia, 1911. 

Travels in the U. S. A., 1793-97 William Priest. 

London, 1802. 

Travels of Governor Thomas Pownall, 1754. 

Washington in His Letters S. W^eir Mitchell. 

The Lippincott Press, Philadelphia. 

Wayside Inns of the Lancaster Roadside . . Julius F. Sachse. 
Published by the Author, Philadelphia. 

William Penn's Original Proposal and Plan . James Coleman. 
London, 1881. 




OLD ROADS 
OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

I 

IN OLD PHILADELPHIA 

^F all the many places I have seen in the world 
I remember not one better seated; so that it 
seems to me to have been appointed for a Town. 
... It is advanced within less than a Year to about four 
score Houses and Cottages, such as they are. . . . 

So William Penn, Proprietor of Pennsylvania, spok^ 
of his beloved Philadelphia, in a prospectus which he 
sent in 1683 to the Committee of the Free Society of 
Traders residing in London, after he had made this 
explanation : 

Philadelphia, the Expectation of those who are 
concerned in this Province, is at last laid out to the 
great Content of those here, that are anywayes Inter- 
ested therein; the Scituation is a Neck of Land, and 
lieth between two Navigable Rivers, Delaware and 
Skulkill, whereby it hath two Fronts upon the Water, 
each a Mile, and two from River to River. Delaware 
is a glorious River, but the Skulkill being one hundred 
Miles Boatable Above the Falls. . .is like to be a great 
part of the Settlement of this Age. 

The plan of the city called for a High Street (now 
Market Street) from river to river, one hundred feet 
in width, and a Broad Street in the middle of the City, 
/ 15 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

from side to side, of the like breadth. In the centre 
of the city was located "a Square of ten Acres" at 
each angle of which were to be placed "Houses for 
publick Affairs, as a Meeting-House, Assembly or State 
House, Market House, School-House." It was arranged 
also that "in each Quarter of the City" there should 
be a "Square of eight Acres, to be for the like Uses." 
In addition to the High Street there were to be eight 
streets from river to river, and twenty streets (besides 
the Broad street) across the city, each fifty feet wide. 

For many years the streets on each river front were 
numbered in a similar manner, thus: Delaware Front, 
Delaware First, Delaware Second, and so on to Broad 
Street; and Schuylkill Front, Schuylkill First, Schuyl- 
kill Second, and so on, to Broad Street. The residents 
of the city must have breathed a sigh of relief when 
this awkward nomenclature was abandoned. 

Lossing says that when William Penn, with the 
help of Thomas Holme, the surveyor, laid out the city 
at the close of 1682, he caused the boundaries of the 
streets to be marked on the trunks of the chestnut, 
walnut, locust, spruce, pine and other forest trees that 
covered the land. It was natural, then, that some of 
the streets should bear the names of those trees. 

Penn's "Checker-board plan," as it came to be 
called, elicited much favorable comment from early 
travelers from abroad who have left accounts of their 
journeys. One of these travelers, who told of visiting 
a number of other cities in the infant colonies, spoke 
with satisfaction when he found a place that had 
adopted Penn's plan in laying out the streets. One 
16 



IN OLD PHILADELPHIA 

traveler said, in despair, that it was too easy to find 
his way about in Philadelphia! 

In 1755 Thomas Pownall told of some changes that 
time had made in the city. "Front Street," he said, 
"stretches farther along the banks of the Delaware 
than as designed by the original plan, as the other 
streets are more and more defalcated of their length, 
so that the shape of the town at present is that of a 
semi-oval." 

The same writer called attention to a fact that 
shows what a shrewd real estate agent William Penn was : 

All the plans of Philadelphia represent it as extend- 
ing from the River Delaware to the Schuylkill. This 
was indeed the original plan laid down on paper, and 
held out to the first settlers, and it is said that Mr. 
Penn sold many of the lots on the banks of the Schuyl- 
kill almost as dear as those on the bank of the River 
Delaware. That the town should ever have such 
extent is almost impossible; it does not extend one- 
third of the way: those, therefore, who bought their 
lots as a speculation were much deceived. 

At about the same time Peter Kalm, a Swedish 
traveler, said that the purchasers of the first lots sold 
had actually begun to build houses on both these 
rivers, although the place was at that time an entire 
wilderness covered with thick forests. "But the in- 
habitants could not be got in sufficient numbers to fill 
a Tjhi^e of such extent," he commented. "The plan 
therefore about the river Skulkill was laid aside till 
more favorable circumstances should occur, and the 
houses were only built along the Delaware. The 
houses which had already been built upon the Skulkill 
2 17 



o\ V luvvns (>r r i>f ru ii a i>iiriu a 

wrrr iriiTuspl;n\toil hitherto l\v dognx^s." At. the date 
of his visit the town mcjisiuwi a httlo luoro t.hnn :vn 
Kuglish uvilo in Uniglh. .-viul the hro:uUh in Si>nic pl;uvs 
wa* half a mile. The popnlntion was saiil io he i\honi 
twenty thou!4nnd. 

Sonvo of the enrhest settlers Uvevi for :\ time in 
primitive enve-hovuses in the side of a hill or in a bank 
of earth. In the side of tliis a shallv>\v pit was dng. 
The e\eavativ>n in the bank was about seN en feet vicvp 
at the rear, the earth walls sloping to the ground level 
at the front. The next step was to line the sides of 
the exeavation with ro\igh stones, or with log's set 
upright and eUvse together; these walls rejicluxi to a 
height of perhaps seven feet on all sides. Thus the 
earth bank at the rear was as high as the walls. Some- 
times the e.-vrth was bankcxl high on the sides .also. 
The roof was made either of logs, plastered \Nith clay, 
or with bark or thatch on poles. It is a tradition in 
one old Philadelphia fa.mil.v that when the primitive 
cave-house of their ancestors was succcvdcti by a more 
ambitious dwelling, the cavt^house was carefully pre- 
served in the cellar. 

Thomas Fownall wrote that it was the original idea 
that Delaware Front Street should have no houses 
immediatelj" on the bank, but a piirapet. HoweN-er, 
"after the first settlers had lx>ught these lots on Front 
Stnvt, it was found more couvetiicnt for the merchants 
and traders to build their wa.reliouses, and even dwell- 
ing-houses, on the beach below, which they wharfed 
out. This part of the soil was not sold," he added, 
for ** several took long leases, and this became a street 
IS 



f N (>\.\> IMf J [.A Dhl.ril f A 

of Uif; 'Jw«;l)irig-fiou.so,'-i &:<; of all the principal Merchants 
arirj riefi men of huHineHs, aruJ waH called Water Street." 

Anol,h»;r l.ri[>ijff. to onr; of the //reatent real estate 
dealers Afnerif:a has k/iowri was (j;i.id by Mr. I'ownall, 
who Maid, " a [)rf>fllf/ioiJs aflvantat^^*; arose t/> Mr. Perm's 
ewtate ujjon t,h<; long lf;ases f;illirig in," 

At the time of whif:h Mr. I'ownall wrote C17.W) 
"the houses were all of hrif;k; thf; fronts of them pre- 
cisely such as those in Cheapside, London; a pent over 
the hase story, aruj ,shof>, and a little slip of a window to 
light a f;los»',t on the side f*f th<; «^;hirnnif^" 

A later travf;ler, William Pri<;st (1794), said, for 
th<; l)»:n« fit of readers in fingland: 

Thf; first object of an industrious emigrant, who 
means to settle in Pliiladelphia, is to purcliase a lot of 
grounfj in one of tfie vaf;ant stnjcts. He erects a small 
building forty or fifty feet from thf; lirtf; laifl otit for 
hirrj by tlic f:ity Surv<;yor, anfl livf;s thf, re till he can 
afffirfl to builfi a liouse, when his former habitation! 
servf;s h'lru ff>r a kitf;hf;n and a work-hf)Use. I have 
observfifl biiiMings in this state in the heart of the city; 
but they are mf>re common in the outskirts. 

Five years f)f;forf; thf; obsf;rvant Mr. ]*rif;st told of 
the fif>usf;s in thf; f;ity Samuf;l I5rf;f;k told of a man who 
lived in :>. vf;nerable looking house standing where the 
"Bank f>f thf; TJnitf;fl Statf;s now is . . , He has f>f;en cutting 
up his garden into buihling lots. It extf;nded to Fifth 
St.rf;et, anfl in it the City Library in that street was 
built, and the fine row of brick houses on Chestnut 
Stref;t latf;ly convf;rf,f;fl into the most splf;ndifl shops 
in Amerif;a, anfl which may stand comparison with 

any in London or Paris." 

/ 19 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

"The increase qf this city is still astonishing," the 
Hon. Jonathan Mason of Boston wrote in 1804, after 
passing through Philadelphia with his family, on the 
way to Savannah. Then he added: 

I am persuaded, though the citizens deny it, that 
they do not trade so much and so well as New York, 
and that their commercial capital is lessening; yet hav- 
ing been in the habit of building for several years past, 
the Masons and Carpenters and tradesmen from their 
past earnings are able and obliged to employ their 
journeymen and themselves in fitting up houses for 
rent and sale. There is not a gentleman in the city 
that has built this year past, and yet whole squares 
have been covered in that time, five hundred houses 
the last year. 

In 1755 it was noted as a fact worthy of attention 
that "on each side of the streets there is a trottoir paved 
with brick: the Streets are not yet paved, but formed 
with gravel, as were the great streets of London, two 
hundred years ago." 

At this time, in spite of the fact that more than 
seventy years had elapsed since the settlement of the 
city, there were "remaining in some of the Streets, the 
stumps or roots of some of the original Pine trees." 

In 1789 no pavement extended south of Chestnut 
Street beyond Fourth. V/hen Washington went to the 
theater in Cedar Street, he had great difficulty in keep- 
ing out of the mud when he stepped from his coach. 

Just before the close of the century came an im- 
provement which was looked on with disapproval by 
many of the old residents who had been content to 
get their water from pumps, placed in different parts 
20 




A TYPICAL PHILADELPHIA -I 1,1.1.1 uF Till. EAKLY PERIOD 
Elfrith Alley, now Cherry Street, between First and Second Streets 




THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHIMGTUX SQUARE 




ISl.\( K UMli^l 1\\, ■^C(()\D AND CALLOW 111 L.l. -.11(1. LI- 
From the rear 



IN OLD PHILADELPHIA 

of the city. On some streets, according to Dr. Man- 
asseh Cutler, who visited the city in 1787, each house 
had its own pump at the edge of the sidewalk, ten feet 
from the house front. "A company of adventurers," 
Wilham Priest wrote in 1794, "are bringing water from 
above the falls of Schuylkill, in the manner of the New 
River in London: but mean to improve on Hugh 
Middleton's plan, by making their aqueduct also serve 
the purpose of inland navigation." A matron of the 
period told of the introduction of the water through 
hollow logs, laid beneath the roadway, and added that 
she did not know if she would like the new way. She 
had been accustomed to go for her bath to certain 
public places provided for the purpose, and the proph- 
ecy that soon people would be able to bathe in their 
own houses did not appeal to her. 

More than thirty years after the first city water 
system was discussed, an old man, William Kite, told 
of his recollections of the city when he was a boy, 
about 1758. He said that Washington Square, which 
was then the Potter's Field, was an unsightly piece 
of ground, part of which was filled with many cart 
loads of brick bats, stones, and all kinds of rubbish, 
"which, by the bye, is one reason for the difficulty of 
raising trees in that part of the square." 

The garrulous old man went on to say: 

Just below Fourth Street lived Cutty Cramer, who 
kept cows, and used to send his daughter, Guly, with 
milk to his neighbors. On the hill adjoining Walnut 
Street, he had a small Peach Orchard, but how he kept 
the fruit from being taken by us boys I know not. 

21 



OTT> KO\P^ OUT OF PUTT .Vr>El VTTIA 

But perhaps his most siguitu*aiit rvininisoouiv was 
of tlie Dock Crtvk, whioh was open to Thin! Strtvt, 
and concerning the grtvn Couuuons, whic'h extended 
in some places from Eighth Street to the Centxe WcxhIs 
(City Hall Square"); "how that f anions forest was cut 
down bv the British troops, and how there was but 
one brick house on Market Street above Fifth Street," 
Bush Hill, James Hamilton's place, was spoken of as 
a country seat, though it extended fvon\ Vine to Coates 
Street vFairmount Avenue), and from Twelfth to Nine- 
teenth Street. 

All agrtvd that life in Philadelphia was far from 
dull. Kalm told of the two great fairs held every year, 
one in May, and the other in November, on the six- 
teenth day of the month. "But besides the fairs,'* he 
wrote, "there are every week two market days, viz. 
Wednesday and Saturday; on these days the Country 
people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey bring to town 
a quantity of victuals, and other productions of the 
country, and this is a great advantage to the town." 

In 18*24 a traveler wrote a full description of the 
market: 

The market house, which is nothing more than a 
roof supported by pillars and quite open to each side, 
begins on the bank of the Delaw are, and runs one mile, 
that is, eight squares in length! It must be mulerstood, 
however, that the Market house stops at tlu^ edge of 
every square, l^so as not to interfere with the cross 
streets), and begins on the next square, and so on, hav- 
ing an interval for every street, but on market days. . . 
a strong chain is drawn quite across the Street at each 
end of the Market house, and so no horse or carriage 
22 



IN OLD PHILADELPHIA 

is permitted to pass, as these intervals, as well as the 
whole innrkt'X, ixrc. then <><-<t\\])\<A by both buyers and 
selJers, to a (ktgn'ji beyond belief. 

One square from the lower end of the market was 
another haunt of buyers and sellers, and of this many 
\n the city were not so proud — the auction block at 
wliich slaves were sold. This stood at the comer of 
Second and Chestnut Streets, almost directly in front 
of Old Button wood, as the First Presbyterian Church, 
now located on Washington Square, was called. One 
of the slaves sold there was advertised thus by Ben- 
jamin Franklin, the printer: 

To be sold: a likely ne^ro wench, about thirty-five 
years of age; is an exceeding good cook, washwoman 
and ironer, and is very capable of doing all sorts of 
housework. Inquire of the printer. 

Not only were slaves sold here, but immigrants who 
had promised to give a number of years of service in 
return for their passage to America. An early resident 
of Philadelphia received a letter from a friend in New 
Castle, Delaware, who told of the town's loss of their 
vahied schoolmaster, but added cheerfully that the 
man could be replaced easily from a vessel which was 
expected soon; it would only be necessary to go to the 
dock and buy one! 

A pleasanter subject was dwelt on in the letters of 
Alexander Mackraby to Sir Philip Francis of London. 
In 1768 Mackraby, who spent some months in Phila- 
delphia, was so carried away by the women he met 
that he talked about them more than about anything 
else. "The circle and the beauty of ladies in New 

/ 23 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

York bears no comparison with this city," was his 
verdict. "I am repeatedly reminded of this obser- 
vation," he continued. "The ladies here resemble the 
city, pretty, regular, and refined. Their beaux must 
be imported, for at this moment they are only as one 
to five in number, and as ordinary as they are scarce. 
I can say nothing of the young men who are growing 
up. Their scarcity gives them advantages which they 
do not improve." 

Once, after a dinner, he wrote: 

Again reminded by the presence of many lovely 
women, of their superiority, in beauty, affability, and 
manners, to those of New York. A man would sup- 
pose that where so much worth was so visible, there 
would be more matrimony, but the reverse is true; 
and among many, one cause is the dress and extrava- 
gant ideas of the ladies themselves. The generality 
of the young men of our country are not able to sup- 
port the rank and grade which the ladies assume, par- 
ticularly in dress. 

One English visitor had a word of criticism for the 
ladies; he said they would not walk with him; he could 
see them only at their own homes or at the semi- 
monthly assembly. Likewise, in 1794, William Priest 
said: 

The fair Philadelphians are by no means so fond 
of walking as the English ladies, not that they have 
any great dislike to a trip in the country, but it is not 
fashionable even for a maid servant to make use of 
her legs on these occasions; the consequence is that 
there are 806 two and four wheeled coaches entered 
at the office and pay duty as pleasure carriages, most 
of which are for hire; and yet the inhabitants do not 
24 



IN OLD PHILADELPHIA 

exceed fifty thousand, of whom there are not three 
individuals but follow some profession, trade, or employ- 
ment. 

Of one of the carriage owners Mr. Priest said: 

Peter Brown, a blacksmith, having made his for- 
tune, set up his coach; but. so far from being ashamed 
of the means by which he acquired his riches, he caused 
a large anvil to be painted on each pannel of his car- 
riage, with two naked arms in the act of striking. The 
motto, "By this I got you." 

It was stated in the City Directory of 1798 that 
Peter Brown was located at 144 North Front Street. 

Eight hundred and six coaches seemed the height 
of luxury to the old man of whom George Phillips of 
Dublin wrote in 1824: 

He remembered when there was but three carriages 
in the whole town, and now the streets were full of 
them, and he likewise said, that at so low a state was 
the commerce then, that two or three vessels at most 
arrived yearly with the manufactures of Great Britain, 
while at present the trade is so much increased, that 
some thousands of ships go out of the port yearly to 
different quarters of the world. 

It was a favorite occupation of visitors to Phila- 
delphia to dwell on the wonderful growth and pros- 
perity of the city. Kalm, after reciting many facts 
that to him seemed astounding, said: 

It will be easy to conceive how this city should 
rise so suddenly from nothing, into such grandeur and 
proportion, without suffering any powerful mon- 
arch's contributing to it. . .and yet its fine appearance, 
good regulation, agreeable situation, natural advan- 
tages, trade, riches and power, are by no means infe- 

/ 25 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

rior to those of any, even of the most ancient towns of 
Europe. It has not been necessary to force people to 
come and settle here; on the contrarjs foreigners of 
different kmguages, have left their country, houses, 
property and relations, and ventured over wide and 
stormy seas in order to come hither. Other countries 
which have been peopled for a long space of time, com- 
plain of the small number of their inhabitants. But 
Pennsylvania, which was not better than a desart in the 
year 1681, and hardly contained four hundred people, 
now vies with several kingdoms of Europe in number 
of inhabitants. 

The rapid growth of Philadelphia and its surround- 
ings encouraged John INIelish, in his Travellers' Direc- 
tory of IS'i-i, to prophesy that in 1830 the population 
of the Union would be 12,875,000. This calculation 
was made in reply to a minister from Spain to the 
United States who had said that the population of the 
country " may now be considered as stationary." "Time 
will show how much he has been mistaken,'* Melisli 
said. "Suppose the whole territory of the United 
States only as thickly settled as Pennsylvania, it would 
contain upwards of thirty-eight millions." 

Then he made a final calculation: "Supposing the 
population increases in the same ratio as it has done 
for one hundred years, the result would be nearly as 
follows." His table of figures ended with 1916, when, 
he calculated, there would be 199,756,733 people in 
the country. 



26 



II 

THE KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

And call they this Improvement? — to have changed 

My native vSchuylkill's once romantic shore. 

Where Nature's face is banished and estranged. 

And Heaven reflected in thy wave no more; 

Whose banks, that sweeten'd May-day's breath before. 

Lie sere and leafless now in Summer's beam. 

With sooty exhalations cover'd o'er; 

And for the daisied green-sward, down the stream 

Unsightly brick-lanes smoke, and clanking engines gleam. 

THOMAS HOOD wrote these lines of the Clyde, 
in his native Scotland, but the change of but 
the River's name shows how well they may be 
used of the Schuylkill, especially the stretch of the river 
for a mile above and below Gray's Ferry Bridge. For 
in early days the traveler along the King's Highway, 
soon after crossing the river at what is now Market 
Street, began to pass within view of a succession of 
bowers of beauty which must have been a delight to 
those who were accustomed to more prosaic surroundings . 
The first of these gardens was on the estate of Wil- 
liam Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, once Attorney 
General of the Province of Pennsylvania, and nephew 
of James Hamilton, lieutenant governor of the Prov- 
ince. This estate contained more than three hundred 
acres, and extended north beyond the Market Street 
of to-day. The first family mansion. The Woodlands, 
was built by Andrew Hamilton, and its successor, the 

27 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

house which is still standing, was built by William 
Hamilton about the time of the Revolution. 

Early in the last century The Woodlands was thus 
described: 

The building embraces three different orders of 
architecture, but the Doric prevails. The north ter- 
race is ornamented in the front by six pilasters, and 
on each side is a pavilion; the south front has a mag- 
nificent portico, twenty-four feet in height, supported 
by six stately Tuscan columns. 

Before long the mansion had to share its glory with 
the grounds. At first there was nothing particularly 
inviting about these, but when Mr. Hamilton went to 
England, soon after the close of the Revolution, the 
sight of the parks on the large estates led him to wonder 
if he could not have such a garden on the banks of the 
Schuylkill. At any rate, he sent word to his Secretary 
at The W^oodlands: 

I shall, if God permits me a safe return to my own 
country, endeavor to make it smile in the same useful 
and beautiful manner. 

But he could not wait until his return to America 
to begin his garden. From England he sent seeds and 
rare plants to his secretary with explicit directions as 
to their disposition. When he was himself on the es- 
tate he gave personal attention to the shrubbery, the 
trees, and the flowers. Many of these were brought from 
distant lands. Some of the captains of vessels which 
sailed down the Delaware carried with them commis- 
sions to bring back rare specimens for the garden. 
28 



'-\ V')'"'^^ — I — 




Road from Philadclpliia to 



SECTIONS OF ROAD MAP FROM GRAY's FERRY TO WILMINGTON 

From "The Traveller's Directory," S. S. Moore and T. W. Jones, 180-2 

(Continued on reverse side) 




Koad ("rom rhihitlclphia to 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

During Mr. Hamilton's absence on business trips, 
many of the letters to his secretary were devoted to 
minute instructions about his pet plants — how they 
were to be watered, where they were to be placed, what 
things were needed to complete the beauty of the 
grounds. Once he said, "The Rose Bush Box should 
be removed into ye shade behind the Hot House, there 
to remain during the summer." Again he wrote: "If 
George for one day neglects the necessary attendance 
on the Hot-bed, everything in it will be lost." 

At length he was the proud possessor of what was 
spoken of as the best specimen of landscape garden- 
ing in the country. Visitors to the city went out to the 
estate in chariots, on horseback, or on foot. One of 
his visitors, a botanist, Manasseh Cutler, gave in 1803 
his impression of the garden, for which, as Mr. Hamilton 
told him, "there was not a rare plant in Europe, Asia, 
Africa, from China and the islands in the South Seas, 
of which he had any account, which he had not pro- 
cured." After walking over the lawns and along the 
paths his enthusiasm and amazement were unbounded. 

A few months before the visit of Mr. Cutler, Mr. 
Hamilton wrote a curious letter which showed that he 
gave the same careful attention to the mansion as to 
his garden. Modern sufferers from the carelessness of 
builders will sympathize with his complaints: 

Early in the winter I discovered accidentally that 
the plynths (or supports) of the portico columns were 
rotten as punk & that the whole of them as well as 
the roof was in jeopardy. The securing of them by 
underpinning with stone was attended with an im- 

/ 29 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

mensity of trouble & no small degree of expense. 
This you will readily believe when you are told that 
the columns & roof were obliged to be raised & 
supported during the operation by screws of an im- 
mense force. This was hardly ended when an accident 
happened equally unlooked for & was nearly attended 
with most serious consequences. The ceiling of my 
dining parlour (in consequence of the rascality of .... 
in laying the plaister to the thickness of from 4 to 5 
inches) came down at once (without the smallest pre- 
vious notice) with such force as to crush all in the way 
and shock the House like an aspen leaf & with such 
a noise that the family at Weeds came out of the ferry 
House to know what cannon had fired so near them. 

Most of the rare plants have disappeared from the 
grounds of The Woodlands, which have been used since 
1839 as a cemetery, but the visitor will see that the 
stone supports which were placed under the columns 
of the portico are still doing their work. 

The route to The Woodlands was over what was 
once known as the Queen's Road, was authorized, in 
1696, "to goeso far in the road that leads to Darby as 
may be." In 1781 this road became known as the 
Great Southern Post Road; it passed along what is 
now Woodland Avenue, to Forty-ninth Street. There 
it joined the King's Highway, which was opened on 
October 29, 1696. The latter road led from Chambers 
Ferry (later known as Gray's Ferry) along the present 
Gray's Ferry Road to Darby, Chester, Wilmington and 
"the lower counties." 

In the Traveller's Directory for 1822, by John Mel- 
ish, this table of distances was given for those who used 
the road from Market Street: 
30 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

Cross Schuylkill 1 mile 

Cobb's Creek 5 miles 

Darby 1 mile 

Crum Creek 6 miles 

Ridley Creek 1 mile 

Chester 1 mile 

Marcus Hook 3 miles 

Naaman's Creek 2 miles 

Brandy wine Creek 8 miles 

Wilmington 1 mile 

The traveler who sought the famous gardens next 
beyond The Woodlands could use either the Great 
Southern Post Road to the north of the Schuylkill, or 
the King's Great Road to the south of the river, which 
led from Cedar Street, now South Street, over what is 
still called Gray's Ferry Road. 

As early as 1740 the keeper of the ferry was George 
Gray, and his name has ever since been connected with 
the place. So many travelers used the ferry that, in 
1790, a garden was opened for their accommodation on 
the western shore of the river. This garden was de- 
scribed by an enthusiastic visitor as "romantic and 
delightful beyond the power of description." Attention 
was called to oranges, lemons, pineapples and other 
tropical plants, and to the fact that on the grounds 
was "every kind of flower one could think that nature 
had ever produced, and with the utmost display of 
fancy as well as variety." Grottoes, cascades, chain 
bridges and other attractions led him to think that he 
must be "on enchanted ground." 

To this garden came pleasure-seekers from Phila- 
delphia in large numbers, for the entertainment pro- 

31 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

vided was pleasing. In winter the spot became the 
Mecca of sleighing parties. It is recorded that George 
Washington more than once refreshed himself at the 
inn in Gray*s Garden. 

The boat at Gray's Ferry was later succeeded by a 
primitive floating bridge, whose construction was de- 
scribed thus by Thomas Twining, an Englishman who 
visited the United States in 1796: 

We soon reached the Schuylkill . . . crossed it 
upon a floating bridge, constructed of logs of wood 
placed by the side of each other upon the surface of the 
water, and planks nailed across them. Although the 
bridge floated when not charged, or charged but light- 
ly, the weight of our waggons depressed it several inches 
below the surface, the horses splashing through the 
water, so that a foot passenger passing at the same 
time would have been exposed to serious inconvenience. 
The roughness and imperfection of this construction 
on the principal line of road in America, and not a mile 
from the seat of government, afforded the most strik- 
ing instance I had yet seen of the little progress the 
country had made hitherto in the improvements of 
civilization. 

But the traveler was too polite to give this as his 
last word. For fear he had been too critical he added; 

I believe there is no nation that would have done 
more in so short a time, and most nations would have 
done infinitely less. . . . The bridge of planks and logs 
had probably succeeded a more insecure boat, and would 
certainly in a few years be replaced by arches of brick 
or stone. 

The ferry and the bridge which succeeded it have 
witnessed stirring scenes. For instance, there was the 
32 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

October day in 1781 when an express rider came up 
from the south, bearing the news which was first an- 
nounced to the startled city by a German watchman: 
"Basht dree o'clock and GornwalKs isht daken." 

More than two years later victorious General Wash- 
ington crossed the river at the ferry on his way to his 
Mount Vernon estate, where he hoped to spend the 
rest of his days in peace. 

One spring day in 1789, the bridge was decorated 
with triumphal arches, flowers and evergreen shrub- 
bery, this time also in honor of General Washington, 
who crossed it on his way to New York, to assume his 
office as President. 

On December 18, 1799, the southern mail coach 
crossed the bridge and, "passing through the forests 
which bordered the Schuylkill, took the country road 
we call Spruce Street." One of the passengers startled 
all within reach of his voice as he made the sorrowful 
announcement, "George Washington is dead!" 

Nearly fifteen years later, when word was re- 
ceived of the burning of the city of Washington by the 
British soldiers, the bridge was the scene of great ac- 
tivity, for it echoed to the tread of hundreds of work- 
men who were hurrying to the location selected for the 
redoubts over the western end of the bridge. An early 
historian picturesquely tells what follows: 

Parties composed of 400 victualers, 300 hatters and 
brickmakers, the crew of the privateer Washington, 
300 cordwainers, 500 friendly aliens, 510 Free Masons, 
2200 "sons of Erin, citizens of the United States," 
650 colored men, 540 men from the German societies, 
3 33 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

silversmiths, artists, lawyers, doctors, took up the pick 
and spade. In all 15,500 persons worked on the forts 
for one day each. . . . Every morning, between five 
and six o'clock, from September 3 to October 1, a crowd 
of these volunteers with their food in knapsacks and 
handkerchiefs, left the city and thronged out to the 
scene of their labors. As a rule, each party had its fife 
and drum. A Scotchman, dressed as a Highlander, 
played on the bagpipe, as he led some thirty other 
Scots, each with a spade, to the redoubts. 

The row of houses in the triangle at Gray's Ferry 
Road and Forty-eighth Street marks the site of these 
redoubts. These houses are known as Fort Terrace. 

The third garden which made the King's Highway 
famous was found, and may still be found, by the 
traveler who turned toward the river at what is now 
Fifty-third Street, and sought the estate of John Bar- 
tram, which made its owner famous, both because of his 
"garden of delight," and because of the house that he 
built with his own hands. 

The ancient stone house stands a few rods from the 
banks of the Schuylkill. Beneath one of the windows 
is a stone on which is carved rudely this inscription: 

It is God Alone, Almyty Lord, 

The Holy One By me Ador'd. 

John Bartram 1770. 

This confession of faith was added to the house 

many years after the earnest Quaker owner built it. 

Fcr another stone, set in the south wall, has this record: 

John: Ann: Bartram: 1731. 

A critic of Philadelphia's colonial architecture has 

said that the "details are generally hard and crude and 

34 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

often inappropriate"; and he cites this house of John 
Bartram's as an example. But, as the Architectural 
Record points out, "Bartram's house ought not to be 
regarded as in any way representative of Philadelphia 
domestic architecture, and, least of all, as representa- 
tive of Georgian building. It is in a class all by itself 
and presents nothing but John Bartram's home-made 
efforts in both plans and execution of detail." 

The quaint house was in the midst of a tract of land 
which the owner transformed from a wilderness into a 
garden, bearing all manner of trees and fruits and plants, 
gathered from up and down the Atlantic Coast and as 
far into the interior as the Allegheny Mountains. 

The plain Quaker gardener, who was born March 23, 
1709, had little opportunity to attend school, but he 
made up for the lack by teaching himself. He learned 
Latin and Greek in the intervals of his farm work. He 
was a diligent farmer, and his crops were abundant, 
but he was not content to plant the seed and reap the 
grain; he wanted to know more of the wonders of God's 
world. His son William wrote of him: 

While engaged in plowing his fields and mowing his 
meadows, his inquisitive eye and mind were frequently 
exercised in the contemplation of vegetables; the beauty 
and harmony displayed in their mechanism, the ad- 
mirable system of order which the great Author of the 
universe has established throughout their various tribes, 
and the equally wonderful powers of their generations, 
the progress of their growth, and the various stages of 
their maturity and perfection. 

As he studied, there came to him the desire to plant 
his garden; so he bought a piece of ground at a tax sale, 

/ 35 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

built his house, hewed out of stone a great watering 
trough, which is still shown to visitors, contrived a 
wonderful cider mill in a ledge of outcropping rock on 
the bank of the river, and proceeded to lay out a five- 
acre garden, the first botanical garden in America, 

Eager to include in his garden specimens from all 
parts of the country, he occupied a portion of each 
year in laborious journeys. William Bartram said of 
these trips : 

He traveled several thousand miles in Carolina and 
Florida. At the advanced age of near seventy years, 
embarking on board of a vessel at Philadelphia, he set 
sail for Charleston, in South Carolina. From thence 
he proceeded, by land, through part of Carolina and 
Georgia, to St. Augustine in Florida. 

A delightful glimpse of life at the Bartram home is 
given in a letter from a visitor to America, written in 
1769, and pubhshed in London in 1782 in "Lettersjrom 
an American Farmer." 

I was received at the door by a woman dressed ex- 
tremely neat and simple, who asked me who I wanted. 
I answered, "I should be glad to see Mr. Bartram." 
"If thee will step in and take a chair I will send for 
him." "No," I said, "I had rather have the pleasure 
of walking through his farm." After a little time I 
perceived the Schuylkill, winding through delightful 
meadows, and soon cast my eyes on a new-made bank, 
which seemed greatly to confine its stream. I at last 
reached the place where two men were at work. An 
elderly looking man, with wide trousers and large leather 
apron, on looking at me, said: "My name is Bartram. 
Dost thee want me.''" "I should be glad to spend a few 
36 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

hours in your garden," I said. "Our jaunt into the 
garden must be postponed for the present, as the bell 
is ringing for dinner." We entered into a large hall, 
where there was a long table full of victuals; at the low- 
est part sat his negroes; his hired men were next; then 
the family and myself, and at the head, the venerable 
father and his wife presided. Each reclined his head 
and said his prayers. . . . 

In his work in the garden Mr. Bartram was assisted 
by a company of negroes to whom he had given liberty. 
Each of these received eighteen pounds a year wages, 
with board and clothes. The oldest of this number 
was his master's business man, going every few days 
to Philadelphia, and arranging the shipments of plants 
and trees and insects which were sent to England by 
almost every vessel leaving the port of Philadelphia. 
The grave of this faithful servant is still pointed out to 
visitors. 

The monuments of John Bartram are an old volume 
of correspondence with his English friends, and the 
garden — neglected, cut in two by a railroad from Phila- 
delphia to Washington, but still the old estate wrested 
from the river by the hands of the lover of nature 
nearly two hundred years ago. 

Many of the trees have perished, and have left no 
sign. One relic of the past stills stands, though it may 
not last many years longer — the great trunk of a cy- 
press planted about 1735. On one of his trips into 
Delaware the botanist procured the cypress slip, which 
he carried home in his saddlebags. It grew to be one 
hundred and fifty feet high and twenty-seven feet in 
circumference. In 1899 it still bore a few live twigs. 

37 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

But now the trunk stands in the midst of the garden, 
gaunt, huge, crumbling into dust. 

The Lady Petrie pear tree is still bearing fruit, after 
more than one hundred and fifty years. In 1763 Bar- 
tram wrote to Peter Collinson: 

The Pear raised from her (Lady Petrie's) seed 
hath borne a number of the finest relished fruit. I 
think a better is not in the world. 

Box trees planted by the botanist are yet green. 
There is a jujube tree, planted in 1735, which waves 
above the old house. Elsewhere are a Ginkgo tree from 
Japan, a holly, a tulip tree, a silver-bell tree, a cucumber 
tree — of the species brought from Lake Ontario in 
1763 — and a horse-chestnut, grown from seed received 
from England in 1746. These are among the old trees 
that are still green. Over the arbor grows a trumpet 
vine which was sent from North Carolina in 1749. 

Bartram's Garden was looked upon as one of the 
wonders of colonial days. Here Washington and Frank- 
lin and Jefferson used to come for rest and refreshment, 
and here tens of thousands of others had the intimate 
communion with nature that the proprietor of the gar- 
den made possible for them by his years of loving toil. 

When Bartram was dying he feared that his pride 
would be laid waste by the British army, which was 
advancing from the Brandywine. He died, September 
22, 1777, before the soldiers came to Philadelphia. But 
when they came, it was not "to lay waste his darling 
garden, the nursling of almost half a century," but to 
pass it by unharmed. 

The botanist's son John succeeded him as proprie- 
38 




JOHN BARTHAM S HOUSE 




THE BLUE BELL TAVERN 




SAID TO BE THE OLDEST HOUSE IN DARBY 




THE WHITE HORSE TAVERN, NORWOOD 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

tor. With him lived his brother Wilham, whose fame 
as a nature lover was second only to that of his father. 
After his death in 1823 the garden passed to other 
hands. To-day it is a park belonging to the city of 
Philadelphia. It should have a constant stream of 
visitors. Yet comparatively few go there. Many old 
residents have not thought it worth while to visit it; 
many more do not know of its existence. But some day 
it will be thought of as one of the spots that every one 
must visit. 

It was but a short distance from John Bartram's 
house to the quaint church of Saint James of King- 
sessing, which now occupies, with its burying ground 
and rectory, a square between Sixty-eighth and Sixty- 
ninth Streets on Woodland Avenue. In 1761 it was 
decided by the Lutherans who worshipped at Gloria 
Dei in Wicaco to build a church in Kingsessing, a Swed- 
ish hamlet, for the accommodation of members who 
ought not to be asked to continue to take the long trip 
to the quiet church near the Delaware. The new out- 
station was built on three "spannland " of ground, which 
were to belong "for time eternal" to the Swedish Evan- 
gelic Lutheran church in Wicaco. 

The original building is the main portion of the 
church as it stands to-day, without the wings and the 
tower. The original rectory is now used as a residence 
for some of the staff of the Catholic institution farther 
down the street, which was occupied as a hospital dur- 
ing the Civil War. 

One of the most enthusiastic givers and workers 
for the new church was James Coultas of Whitby Hall, 

/ 39 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

who had opened his home for preaching services during 
many months. He was a leader of the "members of 
the congregation who came to work, as often as they 
were called upon, often more than one hundred per- 
sons at a time," according to the curious account written 
by Dr. Wrangel, who was rector then and for many 
years afterward. 

In the old burying ground there is a stone which 
bears this odd inscription : 

Watch and pray, do not delay, 

For time doth quickly pass; 
For you may see, who pass by me, 

Man's days are like the grass. 

Another stone gives this message: 

Farewell, fond world, I have done with thee 

And I am careless what thou sayeth of me; 

Thy love I court not, nor thy frons I fear; 

In hope, through charity, my head will easy lie here. 

The church is prosperous as ever, but the property, 
which was designed for Lutheran uses "for time eter- 
nal," has for more than seventy years belonged to the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. This change followed 
the agreement of the King of Sweden, dated June 25, 
1789, to the authority given to the church by the Penn- 
sylvania Assembly to employ ministers of either the 
Lutheran or the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 
Assembly's act of December 31, 1842, authorizing the 
erection of the parish of St. James. 

Whitby Hall, the home of James Coultas, is a short 
distance from St. James. It was reached by a lane 
which led from the King's Road to the road to West 
40 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

Chester. At first this was called Coultas's Lane. Later 
it was known as Gray's Lane. The location to-day is 
Fifty-eighth Street and Florence Avenue. The site was 
on the brow of a hill above the Ameasaka, a small trib- 
utary of the Kasakung, now Cobb's Creek. 

The original house was built in 1741, though a wing 
was added in 1754. Later reconstruction has been 
done so well that the original charm of the building 
has been retained. Critics have said that the house 
is as perfect a specimen of colonial architecture as exists 
anywhere in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 

The builder of Whitby Hall was one of the fore- 
most citizens of Philadelphia. From 1755 to 1758 he 
was High Sheriff of the city, and he was always a leader 
in planning public improvements. He was one of the 
commissioners to "survey" the Schuylkill, and he was 
an advocate of road improvement. In the Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette of December 13, 1764, appeared this 
advertisement signed by him: 

Whereas Good roads are of the Greatest Use and 
Benefit to the Inhabitants, both as to Profit and Pleas- 
ure, and altho' the Legislature of the Province hath 
taken much Pains to make Laws for the Amendment 
of the Highways, yet do not seem to answer for the 
end thereby intended, 

I do therefore humbly propose to undertake the 
Amendment of the Road from the first Hill to the West- 
ward of the Lower Ferry on Schuylkill to the Borough 
of Chester, Deemed the Distance of about eleven Mile, 
making Stone Bridges over all the Runs and Hollows 
in the said road, if Money to defray the Expense of the 
same can be raised by Subscription from the Inhabit- 
ants, Travellers, County Commissioners, and the Over- 

41 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

seers of the Highways. I have given two Thousand 
pounds security to the Treasurers of the Counties of 
Philadelphia and Chester, and their Successors, that 
the Money so raised shall be expended for the afore- 
said Use, and no other whatever. 

Whitby Hall was one of the houses visited by Wash- 
ington, who was a frequent traveler on the road. 
Another building which often sheltered him is at Sixty- 
eighth Street and Woodland Avenue, the old Blue Bell 
Tavern. Many stories are told of the hours he spent 
there. One of these, which is perhaps no more unre- 
liable than any of the rest, is that one night three young 
girls looked in at the door of the room where the tall 
Virginian stood before the open fireplace. "He looks 
as if he would like a kiss," one of them said. "Which 
one of you said that?" the general asked, promptly. 
There was no reply, so Washington kissed all three! 

Opposite the Blue Bell, on the banks of Cobb's 
Creek, there was for many years one of the numerous 
water-power mills which were to be found every few 
miles. This mill, it is said, was built by the Swedish 
Governor Printz. 

According to the Traveller's Directory of 1802 the 
region at this point, along Cobb's Creek, between the 
Post road and the Delaware, was a favorite place for 
fattening cattle for the Philadelphia market, and it was 
a common occurrence to pass droves coming from the 
South with this purpose in view. 

When the Traveller's Directory was issued, note 

was made of the fact that a little beyond Cobb's Creek 

stood the important town, Darby, which contained 
42 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

" about fifty or sixty houses." Two of these houses are in 
the first square of Lansdowne Avenue, after leaving the 
trolley terminus. Both of these buildings are fine speci- 
mens of the Germantown-hood house. One of them is 
called the John Bartram house, and there is a tradition 
that the Colonial farmer -botanist lived here before 
making his "garden of delight" on the Schuylkill. 

An early traveler, who told of approaching Darby 
from the south, in 1754, gave his impressions thus: 

Darby looks very pretty, seen from off any of the 
hills round about it, for it stands in a bottom, sur- 
rounded with hills. The houses, built in one street, 
all stand in the bottom, and the sides of the hills are 
covered with houses and farms. 

A later traveler, George Phillips, who passed this 
way in 1824, did not have so favorable an idea of the 
country, for he said that it had a barren appearance, 
"from the custom the inhabitants have of cutting down 
all the trees near the house; this they do, not for the 
value of the timber, but also for the sake of clearing 
the ground for the plough. The want of hedges," he 
continued, "also adds to the nakedness of the prospect, 
for the fields are divided only by a rude paling, which, 
to those acquainted with the neat hedge-rows of Ire- 
land, had a very bleak and unsettled appearance." 

From the hills about Darby is visible the region 

near the mouth of Darby Creek which is said to have 

been the site of Fort Beversede, built by the Dutch in 

1633, to protect their trade with the Indians. Not far 

away was the island called Tenako, Mattinicum, Tena- 

konk, or Tinicum, where, in 1643, Governor Printz 

43 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

built a fort of hemlock logs, which he called New Goth- 
enberg, and his mansion, Printz Hall. In 1656, when 
the island fell into the hands of the Dutch, they changed 
the name to Kattenberg. 

Beyond Darby every mile of the road has its attrac- 
tion. An oddity at Glenolden, on the right, should be 
noted — an octagonal house which is plainly not a sur- 
vival of the old days, in spite of its curious form. At 
Norwood, also on the right, is the old White Horse Inn, 
a relic of the days before the Revolution. This was 
another of Washington's favorite stopping places. Until 
recently the hostelry was open for business. 

A now dilapidated house at Essington, on the Dela- 
ware, was the birthplace of John Morton, a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. The house is said 
to date from 1698, and the date of Morton's birth was 
twenty-six years later. His ancestors were among the 
first Swedish emigrants who settled on the Delaware, 
and the first settlement was made only a short distance 
from the spot where the house stands. The Swedish 
records show that Marten was the name of the first 
American ancestor of the signer. 

As a boy, John Morton did not have many advan- 
tages. For three months he was able to go to school, but 
after that he received his training from his step-father, 
who taught him the principles of surveying, considered 
almost a necessary accomplishment in the days of the 
settlement of a new country. He was better known, 
however, as "the plough boy of Ridley." 

He was forty years old when his public service began, 
and his neighbors did not give him much rest after this 
44 




THE BIKTHPLACE OF JOHN MOUToN, ESSINGTON, SAID TO DATE FROM 1698 



P 




THE WASHINGTON HOTEL, CHESTER 




THE TOWN HALL, CHESTER, 1728 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

time. First he was Justice of the Peace, then succes- 
sively member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly 
and a member of the famous Stamp Act Congress which 
met in New York City in 1765. That he was ready to 
serve in any capacity is evident from the fact that he 
was next sheriff of Chester County, while later he be- 
came one of the judges of the Pennsylvania Supreme 
Court. In 1774, 1775 and 1776 he was a member of 
Congress. 

Here he had the opportunity for the great service 
of his life. He was one of five delegates from Pennsyl- 
vania when the vote was to be taken on the Declara- 
tion of Independence. Great pressure was brought to 
bear on the delegates by those who wished them to vote 
one way or the other. There was much difference of 
opinion among the Pennsylvania delegates, and there 
was great anxiety on the part of the advocates of a 
courageous policy. What if the great colony of Penn- 
sylvania should not stand with those v/ho demanded 
their inalienable rights.^ At the decisive moment two 
of the seven delegates, both of whom were known to be 
against the Declaration, were absent. Of the five re- 
maining, two, Benjamin Franklin and James Wilson, 
were in favor of the decisive action, while Charles 
Humphrey and Thomas Miller were in opposition. 
Morton had the casting vote, and he voted in the affirm- 
ative. It is said that the great strain under which he 
labored on this momentous day hastened his death, less 
than a year later. His biographer says that durmg his 
last days many old friends turned from him because of 
his action. But he was not disturbed. "Tell them," 

f 45 

/ 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

he said when on his deathbed, "that they will live to 
see the time when they shall acknowledge it to be the 
most glorious service that I ever rendered to my 
country." 

He was buried in the cemetery of St. Paul's Church, 
Chester, now in the heart of the city, on Third Street, 
above Market. 

From Essington the traveler should return to the 
turnpike as he came, and go on to Ridley Park. Just 
beyond Swarthmore Avenue, on the right, is a stately 
stone house, now used as a residence, which was one of 
the colonial taverns. A quaint feature of the place is 
a high old wooden pump, under a sheltering roof. 

Opposite the entrance to Stewart's Lane, Ridley 
Park, on the right, is an old house occupied by H. M. 
Worrall, whose father, who was born in 1795, went to 
school in a stone building still standing a few hundred 
yards beyond the house, on the same side of the road, 
near Little Crum Creek. This was one of the subscrip- 
tion schools of the early days before the public school 
system had been thought of. 

Many historic houses in this section have long since 
disappeared, to the sorrow of the traveler, but there is 
one institution which existed at Ridley Park from early 
days, at whose disappearance there was no regret — 
the old toll gate, one of six between Chester and Darby. 
Toll was charged on the road for more than two hun- 
dred years, or from the time when the highway was 
opened in response to the petition of one hundred resi- 
dents. 

An English traveler in early days spoke with joy of 
46 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

his first sight of a turnpike gate on this highway, be- 
cause it made him think of home. He was glad to see 
that America had adopted "a custom of the Mother 
Country which Adam Smith cites as one of the most 
equitable examples of taxation, the traveller paying 
for an evident convenience and in proportion as he 
enjoys it." 

Near Crum Creek in Leiperville is a house, now oc- 
cupied as a residence, which was built of the white stone 
similar to that used in the Chester City Hall. On the 
front of the house is a stone bearing the message, " 1770 
5 S L" (5 miles to State Line, the legend is supposed 
to mean). Here Washington is said to have spent the 
night after the disastrous defeat at Brandywine. It 
was then the home of John Mcllvaine. 

A colonial stone house a short distance beyond the 
point where the trolley line leaves the pike is the home 
of Miss Eliza Leiper, great-granddaughter of Thomas 
Leiper, for whom the borough is named. The house, 
old at the time of the Revolution, was occupied by a 
family whose son was in the Continental army. Once, 
when at home on furlough, he hesitated to show him- 
self, fearing betrayal by a Tory family who lived across 
the road, though at some distance. One day he thought 
it was safe to come out early to the pump for his morn- 
ing wash. A sharp-eyed Tory saw him and sent word 
to the British commander, who sent a boat up Ridley 
Creek, captured the soldier and sent him to the prison 
ship in New York Harbor. 

The many navigable creeks along this road made 
travel difficult in the early days. Some years before 
/ 47 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the Revolution the road did not run through the present 
Leiperville, but some distance to the north, where it 
was easier to ford the creeks. 

When a bridge was built over Ridley Creek, trav- 
elers had to pay what must have seemed an exorbitant 
toll. The rates posted at the bridge were as follows: 

Coach, light waggon, or other pleasure car- 
riage, with four wheels and four horses 25 cents 

Do, two horses 15 

Chair, sulky, &c 10 

Sleigh with two horses 6 

Man and horse 2 

Waggon with four horses 12 

Do. do two do 8 

Cart and horses 4 

For every additional horse to carriage of 

pleasure 4 

do to carriage of burden 2 

But perhaps it was a good thing, after all, to have 
these charges at the small stream; they prepared one 
for the larger charge at such a ferry as that over the 
Susquehanna, 63 miles from Philadelphia. There the 
charges ranged from $2 for " Coach &c. with four 
horses," to 25 cents for an empty wagon and 50 cents 
for a cart and two horses. 

No wonder an early traveler carefully records the 
number of streams of all sizes crossed while making a 
journey! 

But toll bridges and ferries were by no means the 
worst obstacles in the way. Roads were rough and ve- 
hicles were often at the repair shop. A blacksmith 
shop was to be found at every tavern, and there was 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

usually a pressure of work at all times. The traveler 
who planned to use his own conveyance, if he was wise, 
would have it thoroughly overhauled before setting 
out. In 1790, just before starting to Mount Vernon, 
over this King's Highway, George Washington wrote 
to a friend : 

I have left my coach to receive a thorough repair 
against I return . . . and I request you will visit Mr. 
Clarke (into whose hands it is committed) often, to 
see it well done; and that I may not be disappointed 
in the time allowed him for the completion. . . . The 
harness is also left with him, and he has my Ideas on 
this subject — ^generally they are, if the wheel harness . . 
can be made complete, and look as well as if they were 
new, then and in that case, he is to make a set of pole- 
end harness to suit them, both to be plated — but if 
this cannot be accomplished, the set is to be made 
entirely new — and in the best style. 

Thomas Twining, who passed over this new road 
six years later, told of his experience in a public con- 
veyance in words that give a vivid picture: 

The vehicle was a long car with four benches. Three 
of them in the interior held nine passengers, and a tenth 
passenger was seated by the side of the driver on the 
first bench. A light roof was supported by eight slender 
pillars, four on each side. Three large leather curtains 
suspended to the roof, one at each side and one behind, 
were rolled up or lowered at the pleasure of the passen- 
gers. There was no place nor space for luggage, each 
person being expected to stow his things as he could 
under his seat or legs. The entrance was in front, over 
the driver's bench. Of course the three passengers on 
the back seat were obliged to crawl across all the other 
benches to get to their places. There were no backs to 

4 , 49 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the benches to support and relieve during a rough and 
fatiguing journey over a rough and ill-made road. It 
would be unreasonable to expect perfection in the ar- 
rangements of a new country, but though this rude con- 
veyance was not without its advantages and was really 
more suitable to the existing state of American roads 
than an English stage-coach would have been, it might 
have been rendered more convenient in some respects 
without much additional expense. Then a mere strap 
behind the seats would have been a great comfort, and 
the ponderous leather curtains, which extended the 
whole length of the Waggon, would have been inuch 
more convenient, divided into two or three parts, and 
with a glass, however small, in each division, to give 
light to the passengers in bad weather and enable them 
to have a glimpse of the country. . . . 

This might be called the description of a pessimist. 
For contrast one should take a peep into the journal 
of Francis Baily, who made a tour of America in 1767. 
He, too, spoke of the necessity of climbing over the 
passengers in the front to reach the rear seats, but he 
found this "amusing," and he thought that traveling 
in America was "very pleasant,'as you enjoy the country 
much more agreeably than when imprisoned in a close 
coach, inhaling and exhaling the same air a thousand 
times over, like a cow chewing the cud." He spoke 
with approval of the democratic method of placing a 
member of congress by the side of the shoemaker who 
elected him. "You see no person here take upon him 
those important airs which you too often meet with in 
England," he added. He even found amusement in 
the necessity of getting out and putting his shoulder to 
the wheel, and this in the most unpleasant weather, as 
50 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

well as in the midst of mire and dirt. One night, when 
the coachman landed the stage in a bog, and it was 
necessary to leave it there, with the baggage, while the 
passengers walked to the nearest house, he did not 
think of entering his complaint, but told instead of his 
surprise and pleasure that all the baggage was found 
intact the next morning. 

Humorously the stage coach passenger told of the 
declivities "down which the waggon descended at a 
great rate, for not only was it unprovided with a drag 
to keep it back, but it seemed to be the principle of 
American driving to go as fast as possible down hill 
in order to make up for the slowness inevitable on all 
other parts of the road. This road being newly and 
roughly formed, furrowed with ruts, and strewed with 
huge stones which had been separated from the mould 
or gravel, the jolting of the waggon in these rapid de- 
scents was almost insupportable, and even drew forth 
many a hard exclamation from my companions, ac- 
customed to it as they were. . . . The driver managed 
his four active little horses with all the skill of an Eng- 
lish coachman, although he had little of the appearance 
of one, having neither his hat on one side, nor his great 
coat, nor his boots, but a coarse blue jacket, worsted 
stockings, and thick shoes." 

Another difficulty of early travel was due to the 
fact that "the surface of the land was entangled with 
the roots of trees, and covered with stones which the 
plough had recently exposed to the light for the first 
time, and with clods of dirt not yet broken.'* 

It is easy to sympathize with the passengers who 

51 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

decided that "as the extreme jolting of the waggon 
had caused a general complaint . . . and the incon- 
venience might be expected to remain," it would 
be better to hire some other conveyance. And one can 
appreciate their disappointment when it was found 
that the wagon was the only carriage on the road. 

Only a few months after the Englishman told of his 
trying experience, the American Annual Register said: 

The Roads from Philadelphia to Baltimore exhibit 
for the greater part of the way, an aspect of savage 
desolation. Chasms to the depth of six, eight or ten 
feet occur at narrow intervals. A stage coach which 
left Philadelphia on the 5th of February, 1796, took 
five days to go to Baltimore. The weather for the first 
four days was good. The roads are in a fearful condi- 
tion. Coaches are overturned, passengers killed, and 
horses destroyed by the overwork put upon them. In 
winter sometimes no stage sets out for two weeks. 

Many a weary stage-coach passenger, who had 
helped for hours in the struggle with roads that seemed 
bottomless, must have welcomed the approach to 
Chester and the knowledge that there they would find 
at least temporary respite from trial. For Chester, the 
oldest town in Pennsylvania, seemed like a staid and 
settled community in days when Philadelphia was a 
mere beginner. In 1708 there were one hundred houses 
here. In 1833 the number had increased to one hun- 
dred and fifty, while four years later the population 
was only seven hundred and forty. 

In 1754 Thomas Pownall spoke of the town as "a 
good pretty village; a place famous for cyder, as the 
country people say." William Priest said in 1793: 
52 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

The little town is . . . the same to Philadelphia 
that Gravesend is to London. Ships outward bound 
here receive their passengers. 

The receipt of passengers by a vessel that sailed 
from Chester in 1765 is made a part of a most interest- 
ing story in Cope and Ashmead's " Historic Homes of 
Chester and Delaware County," which was said to be 
based on a letter from a man who knew one of the actors. 
This is the letter: 

Elizabeth Shewell became acquainted with Ben- 
jamin West, afterward the celebrated artist, and they 
fell in love with each other. West, at that time, al- 
though descended from a good family, was poor and 
little known. Stephen Shewell wished his sister to 
marry another suitor, which she refused to do, in con- 
sequence of her attachment to West. The brother ob- 
jected to West on account of his poverty and obscurity, 
and he was forbidden to come to the house, Elizabeth 
Shewell, however, continued to see him elsewhere, and 
they became engaged to be married. West then de- 
termined to go to Europe and prosecute his studies and 
profession there, and Elizabeth Shewell promised him 
that when he notified her of his ability to maintain her, 
and his wish for her to come to him, she would proceed 
to join him in any part of Europe and marry him. Her 
brother was informed of her meetings with West and 
of their engagement. So, to prevent any further in- 
tercourse between them, he confined her to her chamber 
and kept her under lock and key until after West's 
departure for Europe. 

He pursued his studies and profession for some time 
in various places on the continent; and finally settled 
in London, where he soon met with sufficient patronage 
to justify him in calling on Elizabeth Shewell to fulfill 
her promise. He then made arrangements for her to 

53 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

come in the same vessel that conveyed his request to 
her, and also, that his father should accompany her 
on the voyage. Upon the receipt of his message, Eliza- 
beth Shewell prepared for her departure, but her brother 
was apprised of her intention and again confined her 
to her chamber. 

Her engagement to West was well known in Phila- 
delphia, and her brother's tyrannical treatment of her 
excited great indignation against him and strong sym- 
pathy for the sister. In this state of things the late 
Bishop White, who was my guest at his last patriarchal 
visit to Easton, told me that he (then eighteen years 
of age) and Dr. Franklin (about fifty-nine years of age) 
and Francis Hopkins (twenty-nine years of age) when 
the vessel was ready to sail, procured a rope ladder, 
went to the captain, engaged him to set sail as soon as 
they brought a lady on board, took John West to the 
ship, and went at midnight to Stephen She well's house, 
attached the rope ladder to a window in Elizabeth 
Shewell's chamber, and got her safely out and to the 
vessel, which sailed a few minutes after she entered it. 
They were married 9 mo., 2, 1765, and for fifty years 
their lives were joined in kind and tender companion- 
ship, neither of them ever returning to this country. 

Some local historians say that this story is not true. 
The statement was once made in behalf of Miss 
Shewell's family that there was never the slightest opn 
position to the engagement. There is, however, at least 
this bit of truth in the narrative: Miss Shewell did 
go to England on a vessel that stopped for her at Ches- 
ter, and she did marry the artist, with whom she lived 
happily ever after. 

One hundred and twenty-one years before the bride- 
to-be took passage from Chester, the first Swedish 
54 




^JL.^\^ 



llll. 



THE CALEB PUSEY HOUSE, UPLAND; THE OLDEST HOUSE IN PENNSYLVANIA 
Here William Penn held council meetings 




MONUMENT TO JOHN MOHTON, SIGNEH OF THE UECLAUATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 

CHESTER 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

settlers landed here, having been sent by the Swedish 
Company to cultivate a tobacco plantation. It is re- 
lated that Joran Kyn was one of these early settlers. 
He came with Governor Printz on the ship Fama, in 
1642. At first he made his home, as did others, on Tini- 
cum, or New Gothenberg. When the island became too 
crowded Kyn went to Chester, or Upland, as he called 
it, in remembrance of Upland in Sweden. He substi- 
tuted this name for the Indian Meco-pon-aca (big po- 
tatoes). The land to which he was given title extended 
for a mile and a half above Chester Creek, and was 
three-quarters of a mile wide, reaching to the Dela- 
ware on the east, and to the north as far as Ridley Creek. 
In 1687 he gave a bit of this land, adjoining his "lot 
or Garding" "to the use and behoof of . . . the people 
of God called Quakers, and their successors forever." 

Nothing remains in Upland to remind visitors of 
Kyn. The most ancient house in old Upland, outside 
the city limits of Chester, is the Caleb Pusey house, 
built in 1683, the year after Wilham Penn landed. It 
is said that the house still retains most of its original 
features. William Penn occasionally occupied a room 
in the building while visiting here. A tablet on the 
stone wall about the house recites these facts. 

For a time Penn thought seriously of founding his 
"great town" at Upland. In his instructions to the 
Commission, he directed that "the river and creeks be 
sounded on my side of the river, especially Upland, 
in order to settle the great town." 

After receiving formal possession by treaty he landed 
on the Delaware, south of Chester Creek. At once he 

/ 56 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

changed the name of the settlement. Turning to a 
fellow passenger in the ship Welcome, he said: "Provi- 
dence has brought us here safe; thou hast been the 
companion of my perils; what wilt thou that I shall 
call this place?" The man replied, "Chester, in re- 
membrance of the city from which I came." 

On December 4, 1682, the first Assembly was called 
together, and very soon it was determined to go farther 
north for the settlement of the great town. 

Forty-two years later the Chester Court House was 
erected, a building that has since that time been oc- 
cupied continuously as a public building, the oldest 
building in the United States so used. A tablet on the 
left of the entrance records: 

This building was erected in 1724, during the reign 
of George I of England. It was the Court House of 
Chester County 1724-1786; the Court House of Dela- 
ware County 1789-1851; Hall of Chester Borough, 1851- 
1866; Hall of Chester City Since 1866. In 1739 Eng- 
land declared war against Spain and soldiers were here 
enlisted for an expedition to Cuba. Here Anthony 
Wayne rallied and drilled his troops Jany 1776. In 
1824 Lafayette as Guest of the Nation was enter- 
tained in this building. 

Across Market Street from the quaint City Hall is 
the Washington House, built in 1747. The original 
name of the famous hostelry was the Pennsylvania 
Arms, but this was changed in honor of the most 
famous guest the walls every held, George Washington. 
Here he received the congratulations of the people on 
his election to the Presidency, when he was on his way 
to Philadelphia, on April 20, 1789. It is generally be- 

56 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

lieved that he was also within the walls twelve years 
earlier, on September 11, 1777, just after the Battle of 
Brandy wine, and that here, at his request, Adjutant- 
General Pickering wrote to Congress a letter giving the 
only report of the battle Washington ever made. But 
there are those who contend that this letter was written 
from the Columbia Hotel, kept by Mrs. Withey, which 
was torn down a few years ago to make way for the 
Columbia office building. 

Less than three weeks before the writing of this 
letter to Congress, Washington had passed through 
Chester with high hopes. On August 25, with ten thou- 
sand troops, he marched through Chester to Naaman's 
Creek, then on to Wilmington. Next day he was at 
Gray's Hill, two miles from Head of Elk, within six 
miles of the scouts of the British, who had landed near 
that point the day the American commander passed 
through Chester. The armies kept close together till 
the Battle of Brandy wine was fought. 

In September, 1781, Washington hurried this way 
once more. At Chester he learned of the safe arrival 
of Count de Grasse in Chesapeake Bay, with twenty- 
eight sail of the line, and four frigates, and three thou- 
sand troops, which were to be sent to join the American 
Army under the command of Lafayette. 

Ten years later Washington noted in his diary a 
visit to Chester when he was on his way to make a tour 
of the Southern states. He wrote: 

Roads exceedingly deep, heavy and cut in places. . . 
My equipage & attendance consisted of a Charriot & 
four horses — a light baggage Waggon of two horses — 

57 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

four saddle horses besides a led one for myself — and 
five — to wit — my Valet de Chambre, two footmen, 
Coachman, & Postillion. 

In the days of Washington the road from Chester, 
through Marcus Hook to Claymont, was perhaps half 
a mile south of the present turnpike, on which the 
trolley line is laid. The first mention of this lower road 
was in March, 1695, when the Grand Jury at Upland 
spoke of the need of a *' Bridle Road" from Marcus 
Hook to Chester. 

Marcus Hook, which is built on land granted in 1653 
to Captain John Amundsen Beck, for his faithful ser- 
vice, and promises for the future, received its name from 
an Indian Sachem, Maarte, who lived on the "hook" 
or point of land on which the town is built. Maarte 
Hook soon became Marrities Hook. Then the descent 
to Marcus Hook was easy. At an early day Governor 
Markham, on the request of the inhabitants, changed 
the name of- the place to Chichester. This is now the 
name of the township, but for some fortunate reason 
the village has not been able to get away from the title 
that speaks of its history. 

This old town was one of the haunts of Blackbeard 
the Pirate, tales of whose escapades frightened the chil- 
dren of the early days. Many efforts were made to 
capture him, but he always managed to get away 
before hands could be laid on him. 

A short distance from Marcus Hook is Chichester 
Meeting House, thought by competent judges to be the 
most quaint of all the meeting houses. 

Chichester Meeting was started by a few Friends 

58 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

from New Jersey who settled on the west side of the 
Delaware River before the arrival of William Penn in 
1682. Perhaps the best known of these was William 
Clayton. Some of them located at Marcus Hook and 
held a Monthly Meeting on "the 14 day of ye 12 month 
1681.'* Another early record speaks of "the fearst 
Monthly Meeting held by friends in Chichester ye 17th 
of the first Month in ye year 1684." William Clayton's 
son was the first man married in the new meeting. 

The first deed for the Chichester property was made 
by James Brown "4 day of Tenth Month 1688" to 
William Clayton, Sr., "for the use of the people of God 
called Quakers of Chichester." The deed was certified 
by the "Clark's hand in open Court at Chichester, 10th 
mo 4, 1688." 

The original house stood until 1769, when Richard 
Dutton was directed to build the present house and to 
put a stone in the gable with the legend R. D. 1769. 
It is stated in the church records that the builder had 
a son born to him on February 2, 1769, who lived for 
exactly a century, and was buried in the graveyard ad- 
joining the church. To his neighbors at Village Green, 
three miles from the meeting, this son delighted to tell 
of the Battle of Brandy wine, and of seeing afterward 
the British soldiers on their way to Philadelphia. They 
took a cow from his father, but he went after it and 
drove it back home. 

William Clayton, Sr., came from Chichester, Eng- 
land, in 1671, first having procured a patent from the 
British Government to five hundred acres of land in 
Upper Chichester. It is said that he owned also a tract 

59 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

of land near Philadelphia, which is crossed by the pres- 
ent Forty-ninth Street. He became one of the nine 
justices who sat at Upland in 1681, and was also a 
member of Penn's Council. 

The annals of the family tell of the marriage of his 
grandson to a daughter of Walter Martin, who donated 
the ground on which was built St. Martin's Church at 
Marcus Hook, the deed being dated in 1699. One of 
the conditions of the gift was that no Quaker should 
be buried in the graveyard belonging to the church. 
In return for this gift, it is said, the church honored the 
giver, and took the name St. Martin. 

One of the descendants of William Clayton bought 
for his son a farm near the railroad station at Claymont. 
The mansion, which stood on a hill, was called Clay- 
mont, an abbreviation of Clayton's Mount. That the 
origin of the name is not generally known is evident 
from the fact that one writer on the town says that "it 
is most appropriately called Claymont, because of the 
clay soil in the neighborhood." 

Thomas J. Clayton, another descendant, who was 
Judge of the Court of Delaware County, wrote that in 
his boyhood "the old Post Road from Wilmington to 
Philadelphia was the central artery for the circulation 
of general news. Important messages were carried by 
post horses, which were changed every ten miles. Tav- 
erns were located all along the road, about ten miles 
apart. In those days the 'keepers of public houses,' 
as tavern keepers invariably called themselves, were 
looked upon as important persons, several degrees above 
the common herd in social and political standing." 

60 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

He also gave this picture of the old days on the 
turnpike: 

I have seen the United States mail coach, with an 
armed guard and trumpeter, come up the Post road in 
a full gallop, and when the horn was blown, all the driv- 
ers on the road to the Philadelphia market immediately 
pulled out to give free passage to the United States 
Mail. 

Many of these travelers must have been on their 
way to market with wood, for "coal had not yet come 
into general use, even in the cities, hickory wood was 
hauled by horses all the way to Philadelphia, Chester 
and Wilmington. There was a city officer called the 
'corder.' It was his duty to measure every cord of 
wood brought for sale to the city. Every farmer care- 
fully preserved his woodland, as he supposed the supply 
would soon become exhausted and his timber lands 
would bring fabulous prices." 

The demand for wood for heating, for the mills and 
for other purposes, was responsible for the existence of 
a picturesque class of workers who were frequently 
seen along the turnpike. They were called " woodmen.*' 
Of these men Mr. Clayton wrote: 

They were a degree higher in the social scale than 
"farm hands," and farm hands were one degree higher 
than "laborers." These woodmen spent the whole 
time in the woods chopping firewood, getting out fenc- 
ing materials and ship timber. I have seen them with 
a ripsaw, one man on an elevated log and one standing 
under it, the man above lifting the saw and the one 
below drawing it down, sawing out great three-inch 
planking for shipping. This "ship-stuff," as it was 

/ 61 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

called, would be transported on great timber wheels, 
drawn by five or six horses in a single file, to the ship- 
yards at Wilmington. Another distinct class of work- 
men, called "team drivers," did nothing but attend to 
and drive these teams, by which they transported all 
articles of heavy merchandise. 

The country about Claymont was heavily wooded. 
"If we desired we could hunt all day without leaving 
the continuous wood from the south branch of Naaman*s 
Creek at the Post road, as far as Brandy wine Summit," 
Mr. Clayton continued his recollections. "Game was 
quite plentiful. With an old-fashioned flint-lock gun 
six feet long we could shoot pheasants, partridges, wild 
pigeons, woodcock, wild ducks, English snipe, and 
squirrels. Foxes were so plentiful as to make the preser- 
vation of our chickens somewhat difficult. During the 
hunter's moon the young fellows, with good trained 
dogs, amused themselves by successful possum and 
coon hunts. Rabbit hunting with hounds was great 
sport." 

The Naaman's Creek, mentioned by Mr. Clayton, 
is crossed just after the State Line is passed. This 
picturesque stream is named, it is thought, for an In- 
dian chief, one of those with whom Governor Printz 
treated on his arrival in America. Naaman, who be- 
longed to the Minquas tribe, showed his friendship for 
the settlers on more than one occasion. In 1654, for 
instance, at a meeting held on Tinicum Island, when 
ten Indian chiefs were present, complaint was made 
against the Swedes, and it seemed as if the result of 
the council was to be unfavorable. But Naaman re- 

62 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

buked the rest for having spoken evil of their friends 
the Swedes, and his words prevailed. A treaty of friend- 
ship followed. 

Where the Post Road and the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road cross the creek is one of the most picturesque spots 
on the route. Facing the turnpike bridge is an ancient 
house, the older part of which dates from about 1654, 
though there are those who claim that it was built by 
Governor Printz in 1640. But the Swedish records 
indicate that it was built by John Rising, who came to 
America from Sweden to be Lieutenant Governor under 
Printz. When he arrived he learned that Printz, having 
been taken ill, had returned to Europe. Some time 
later Governor Rising, with nine good men, went up 
the river in a boat, looking for a good site for a mill. 
They found a waterfall near the river, in a creek, which 
bore an Indian name, and decided to locate here. 

The ground desired for the saw mill was deeded to 
the Swedes by the Sachem Peminacha in July, 1654. 
In October Governor Rising built the block-house 
which still stands at the right of the house. The 
narrow port-holes, the nine-foot fireplace, and the 
spring-house section are just as they were originally. 

In 1655 Peter Stuyvesant attacked the block-house. 
In May, 1910, in the heart of a decayed tree on the 
premises, a three-inch cannon ball was found which 
an ordnance expert has pronounced a pre-Revolution- 
ary ball. Probably it was fired from a cannon manned 
by one of Peter Stuyvesant's men. The ball rests on 
the mantel in the main room of the house. 

On at least two later occasions the block-house was 

63 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

under fire, in 1671, when it was captured by the In- 
dians, and in 1776, when it was captured by the British. 
At the latter date the property was owned by Colonel 
Thomas Robinson, an officer of the Revolution whose 
portrait by Peale is in Independence HalL He was 
born in the house on March 30, 1751. 

During the Revolution the Robinson House, as the 
property came to be known in 1738, when it came into 
the possession of Colonel Robinson's ancestor, was the 
scene of exciting events. On October 31, 1777, Wash- 
ington ordered Light Horse Harry Lee to assist in re- 
moving the stones from the old mill on the place, to 
prevent the British from obtaining flour. The stones 
were buried at the rear of the orchard. One of them is 
now the hearthstone in the main room of the house, 
while the other is used as a tea table on the lawn at the 
rear of the house. 

On another occasion a squad of British soldiers, 
seeing several American soldiers take refuge in the house, 
followed them into the hall as they disappeared up the 
stairs. Triumphantly the British guarded the front 
and rear stairs, both of which opened into the main 
hall ; the latter, being a closed-in stair, shut off the hall 
by a door. Removing their shoes, the Americans slipped 
down the closed-in stair, opened a panel in the wall 
that led to the kitchen, and escaped to their horses. 
The panel is still shown to visitors. 

General Washington was often a guest at Naaman's 
Creek. On one of his visits he was so pleased with a seed- 
ling pear that it was named after him; this was the 
origin of the celebrated "Washington pear." Here he 

64 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

used the sofa now in Independence Hall. Mad An- 
thony Wayne was another famous guest of the Robin- 
sons'. 

To-day the house is owned and occupied by Mrs. 
Edna A. Robinson, who is a descendant of John Rob- 
inson, who came over with the Pilgrims in 1620. The 
Robinsons who occupied the house for one hundred and 
twenty-five years were descendants of Thomas Rob- 
inson, the Quaker brother of John Robinson. 

The house is fitted up as a tea-room, and all who 
come are made welcome. 

The first road to cross the creek at this point was 
an old Indian trail which led along the Delaware from 
New Castle to Tinicum. The first bridge was built 
before 1680. In 1802 this was replaced by the present 
stone arch bridge, said to be at the very spot where the 
old trail passed. Until 1832 this was a toll bridge. 

The story of the building of the bridge is interest- 
ing. In 1800 William Poole was commissioned by the 
Court to contract for and superintend the erection of a 
stone arch bridge. On July 30, 1800, Mr. Poole wrote 
a letter to General Robinson, asking him to superintend 
its erection. On June 8, 1802, General Robinson wrote 
on the back of Mr. Poole's letter: 

Agreeably to the annexed Request, I have observed 
with satisfaction the attention of Mr. Williamson in 
building the Bridge over Naaman's Creek, and 'tis 
my Opinion he has used every necessary care and in- 
dustry in the erection thereof. 

Beyond the bridge is Claymont station, noted be- 
cause of its dueling history in the first half of the nine- 
6 / 65 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

teenth century. On Sunday morning, March 21, 1830, 
William Miller, of Philadelphia, and Midshipman Charles 
G. Hunter, of the United States Navy, met just outside 
the village. For his offense the officer was dismissed 
from the Navy by order of President Jackson, but he 
was restored and served through the Mexican War, 
though he died soon after, a disappointed man. On 
June 4, 1842, Hon. Thomas F. Marshall, of Kentucky, 
fought a duel with General James Watson Webb, of 
New York City, the spot chosen being at the junction 
of the turnpike and the State Line. A disagreement in 
Congress led to the fight. Three years later Washing- 
ton Keith and Morris Meredith fought directly on the 
line, and both were wounded. 

These later duels show how ineffective was the pro- 
test made in 1824 by the Philadelphia City Register, 
which gave an account of all the duels in the United 
States from 1801 to that date. The purpose of the 
publication was "to awake more attention to the wide- 
spread and overwhelming misery occasioned by duel- 
ing." Nearly one hundred had been killed. Some 
thirty of those who fought were army officers, and about 
as many were navy officers. 

But the records of the King's Highway tell of brave 
men as well as of assassins. Perhaps the favorite hero 
tale connected with the road is that of General Csesar 
Rodney, to whose memory a memorial is to be erected 
in Wilmington. How well he deserves this recognition 
will appear from several extracts from the letters of 
General Rodney and his brother, Colonel Thomas Rod- 
ney, and comments made on them by Thomas F. Bayard. 
66 




I II h II I ^1 1 I, ^•i I 1 1 \i , IK II ^1 

Between Village Green and Buotlnvyn 




THE RICHARDSON HOMESTEAD, 1765, WILMINGTON 




OLD swedes' church, WILMINGTON, 1698 




THE TATNALL HOMESTEAD, WILMINGTON 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

From Philadelphia, on June 7, 1768, the General 
wrote to his brother: 

Sir: — The morning after I parted with you, I drove 
to New Castle by dinner time, and intended the morn- 
ing following to have gone on to Chester; but when I 
ordered my horses in the chariot found the best horse 
so ill, that we were obliged to stay that day at New 
Castle that he might grow better; but, finding he grew 
worse, I borrowed a saddle and bridle and set out on the 
other horse. ... I got to Philadelphia on Saturday, 
and on Monday applied to doctors concerning the sore 
on my nose, who all, upon examination, pronounced it 
a cancer. . . 

If Mr. Rodney had followed advice and gone to 
England for treatment, the disease might have been 
arrested, but he was a member of the Legislature, and 
he felt that he was needed at home. 

For eight years he was so engrossed in the people's 
business that he continued to neglect the cancer. 

In 1776, when independence was agitated in Con- 
gress, General Rodney went down into Delaware to con- 
sult his constituents about the question. While there 
he did his best to subdue discontent and to promote 
harmony of action in the cause of liberty. 

While he was absent, and sooner than he had an- 
ticipated, the question of independence came up in 
Congress. Messrs. McKean and Read, the other two 
delegates from Delaware, could not agree. WTien the 
vote was taken on July 1 nine colonies were in favor 
of Richard Henry Lee's resolution, "that the United 
States are and ought to be, free and independent 

states." Pennsylvania and South Carolina were at 

67 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

this time against the resolution. Delaware did not vote. 

Thomas McKean, who favored the resolution, sent 
a mounted messenger, at his own expense, with in- 
structions to find General Rodney and bring him to 
Philadelphia, post haste. 

Mr. Bayard tells what followed: 

Eighty long miles lay between Dover and Phila- 
delphia. Mr. McKean's messenger could not have 
been dispatched until late on the afternoon of July 1, 
after the adjournment, and it would have been a re- 
markable horse or a relay of horses that could bring 
him to Dover before the night of July 2. 

At one of his farms, "Byfield," or "Poplar Grove," 
several miles out of Dover, he must have found Mr. 
Rodney, and when McKean's message was received, 
you may know how little time there was for dainty 
preparation, barely enough for tightening of saddle 
girth and spurs, before the good horse was ready again 
to be mounted, and our hero began his immortal ride 
on that hot and dirty July day to carry into the Con- 
gress of the Colonies the vote he held in trust for the 
people of Delaware, and which was needed to make 
the Declaration of Independence the unanimous act 
of thirteen states. 

Tired and dusty, the Delaware delegate appeared 
just a little while before the adjournment of the session. 
He was met at the door by Mr. McKean, who had been 
looking for him with great anxiety. A few minutes 
later, when Delaware was called, he rose and voted for 
independence. 

At the time of this memorable ride the cancer had 
become quite painful. One account says that Rodney's 
face was swathed in bandages when he reached the 
68 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

State House. Fortunately, the cancer did not cause 
death until he had the satisfaction of seeing independ- 
ence an accomplished fact. 

Just a little while before the death of Csesar Rodney, 
Jacob Hiltzheimer told of a visit of Washington to Wil- 
mington, December 16, 1783. His account was quoted 
from the Pennsylvania Packet of December 23, 1783 : 

Last evening his excellency general Washington, 
arrived in this borough, on his way to his seat in Vir- 
ginia; previous to his arrival he was met by the gov- 
ernor and council, the attorney -general, and other 
Civil officers of the State, officers of the army and other 
gentlemen, who escorted him into town; on his ar- 
rival he was saluted by thirteen discharges of cannon; 
an elegant supper was provided, whilst the inhabitants 
demonstrated their joy by making large bonfires, &c. 

Four years later Washington made another tri- 
umphal journey along the King's Highway, on his 
way from Philadelphia to Mount Vernon. He rode in a 
chariot, accompanied by a Mr. Blair, who was his guest. 
On the journey he had a narrow escape when one of the 
horses fell through a bridge. The other, with the char- 
iot, was on the point of following, but by great exertion 
was saved, Washington related in his diary on Septem- 
ber 1, 1787. 

Nearly one hundred and fifty years before this trip 

that might have proved fatal to Washington — in 1638 — 

the Swedes made the first permanent settlement on 

the Delaware. They landed at the foot of what is now 

Sixth Street in W^ilmington and immediately built Fort 

Christiana. At this fort a prosperous fur trade was 

69 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

carried on with the Indians. It is said that the first 
year thirty thousand skins were shipped to Sweden. 

These early settlers reclaimed many hundred acres 
of lowlands to the north of Wilmington, along the pres- 
ent King's Highway and between it and the river. The 
Brandywine Meadows are a monument to their in- 
dustry. 

The references made to Wilmington and its vicinity 
by early travelers who passed over the road are full of 
interest to the modern tourist. 

In 1745, David Bush wrote to Thomas Hopkinson: 

The Country sixty years ago, particular on the 
Creek & River Side, was settled by Dutch & Sweads 
which seldom went from the Settlement and when they 
had occasion to cross the Creeks, their usual method 
was to swim over their Horses, while they crossed 
in a Canoe; between forty and fifty years ago, the 
English beginning to settle and make a figure in the 
country, and perceiving a real necessity for the Safety of 
Travelers that a Ferry should be Erected, application 
being made to the Court, then held at Newcastle, for lib- 
erty to erect a ferry on Christeen, the Court granted it. 

The writer proposed that he be permitted to equip 
a new ferry, one of the advantages of which was to be 
"the Lowering the price to 33^ d. for Ferrying Man and 
Horse over, which I judge is full much." 

A year later Peter Kalm noted with interest that 
redoubts had been thrown up hastily for protection 
against the French and Spanish privateers who, it was 
feared, might come up the Delaware. 

The only comment made by Thomas Pownall, who 
passed this way in 1754, was to the effect that Wilming- 
70 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

ton " is a regular well-built town; but not travel enough 
to draw together a sufficient number of people to com- 
pleat it to its plan." 

In 1794, William Priest passed along the road in a 
hired "caravan with four horses, which is here called a 
stage." He notes that he slept at Wilmington, "a 
pleasantly situate town on the bank of a creek." 
Then he called attention to the fact that there were 
"about thirty square-rigged vessels, beside sloops and 
schooners, belonging to this port." 

Ten years later a more observant visitor told of a 
visit to the Brandy wine mills : 

The mills are mostly in the hands of friends, and al- 
though not the most extensive are in construction and 
situation perhaps equal to any. They are eight in num- 
ber, and each grinds upon an average, per day, about 
three tons and a half of jflour, and about ten tons of 
Indian meal; going through all the processes of grind- 
ing, packing, &c. They are so situated that near vessels 
receive and discharge their cargoes alongside the mills. 
The neighborhood of these mills is romantic and beau- 
tiful, and is one amongst the many pleasant spots I 
have seen in this country. 

Samuel Breck in 1809 crossed the Brandywine on a 
bridge then building, which was suspended on iron 
chains on the principle of the bridge at Falls of Schuyl- 
kill. He "traversed Wilmington without stopping," 
yet "one could perceive that this Capital of the state 
of Delaware is in a flourishing condition, and may con- 
tain about two thousand souls." 

One of these early visitors called attention to the 

fact that part of Wilmington stands on ground belong- 

71 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

ing to the Swedish church, "which annually receives 
certain rents, out of which they pay the Minister's sal- 
ary, and employ the rest for other uses." 

Old Swedes' Church is practically the only monu- 
ment left on the original Swedish settlement, though 
it was not the first church built by the Swedes. One of 
the first things done by Peter Minuit after landing with 
his colony on Christiana was to provide a place of wor- 
ship within the fort. In 1667 the Crane Hook Church 
was built on the banks of Christiana and Brandywine 
Creeks. Wherever possible, early churches were located 
near streams, for there were no roads, no carriages, and 
no bridges; boats were the only means of transportation. 

The cornerstone of Old Swedes' was laid on May 28, 
1698, by Rev. Ericus Biorck. Money was scarce, and 
he feared that the progress of the work would be slow, 
yet he managed to push it. "I made a bargain with 
bricklayers and carpenters, and bound them and me so 
strongly, that otherwise the work would not have been 
finished in less than three years." The amount of stone 
work done is evident from the statement that the walls 
up to the windows are three feet thick, while above that 
point they are two feet thick. The dedication took place 
on July 4, 1699, the name Trinity Church being given. 

Wilmington, as first laid out, was some distance from 
the church, and for one hundred years many of the 
worshippers traveled at least half a mile over wretched 
roads to reach the quiet spot. "Its situation was se- 
cluded and quiet," one historian has written. "The 
scenery all around it was indeed beautiful. The Chris- 
tiana flowed by between its green bordering of reeds, 
72 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

but a few feet from the churchyard wall. Behind it 
was the beautiful Brandywine, and beyond it the ma- 
jestic Delaware. Rich green meadows lay immediately 
around the church." 

The tower was added in 1802, the gift of Thomas 
Cole, whose grave may be seen near its base. Many 
other graves attract attention, but perhaps the one 
that causes most comment is marked by a stone in the 
original brick floor of the church, placed there to the 
memory of a child who died at the age of nineteen days. 
What a contrast to the more than two centuries of the 
history of the building! 

For twelve years after the erection of the new Holy 
Trinity Church some distance away the old Swedish 
relic was not in use, and it became quite dilapidated, 
but in 1842 it was put in good condition, and most of 
the time since services have been held in it. 

The old-time quiet of the neighborhood has given 
way to bustle and confusion. On three sides, the houses 
of foreigners cluster thickly about the church. On the 
fourth side is the Pennsylvania Railroad. Passengers 
entering Wilmington from the north should look for 
the quaint building and the graveyard. It may be seen 
on the right, a moment before entering the Wilmington 
station. 

Another old church building is the original edifice 
of the First Presbyterian congregation, which stands, 
surrounded by its old cemetery, in the heart of the 
city's business district, at Ninth and Market Streets. 
For many years this building has been used as a mu- 
seum by the Delaware Historical Society. 

73 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Of all the objects of interest in the museum the 
oddest is the wooden statue of Washington, of heroic 
size, which was erected in Battery Park, New York, in 
1796. When this was removed it was sold to a relic 
hunter for $300. 

Among the many old residences in Wilmington is 
the Tatnall homestead at 1807 Market Street, where 
Lafayette was once entertained. It is thought that 
the older part of the house, the Nineteenth Street front, 
was built by the first Edward Tatnall, who came to 
Wilmington in 1735. In 1809 the Market Street front 
was built. The original house faced the Brandywine 
and overlooked the Tatnall farm. At that time Nine- 
teenth Street was a country lane. Those who have 
opportunity to enter the house will be interested in the 
massive doors, the marble mantels and the narrow cup- 
boards at each side of the mantels. 

Beyond the northern city limits is the Richardson 
homestead, built in 1765, as is shown by the date stone 
in the southern gable wall. Before building this house 
Richard Richardson lived in the small brick house 
nearer the road, almost directly in front of the larger 
house. Tradition says that this was built in 1723. 
Port-holes for defense are in the wall of this earlier 
building. The land on which the houses stand was 
bought by John Richardson from the Swedes, in the 
seventeenth century. For a long time he operated a 
mill. About him grew the thriving village of Newport, 
a shipping point to which the farmers from Chester 
and Lancaster Counties brought their grain in wagons 

for shipment to market.i 

74 



KING'S HIGHWAY TO WILMINGTON 

Probably the best known house in Wilmington is 
Delamore Place, built by Captain Samuel Boyer Davis, 
the hero of the defense of Lewes, Delaware, against 
the British squadron, in April, 1813. It has always 
been a source of wonder that he was able to withstand 
the attack of the enemy, for he had only untrained 
militia at his back. Colonel Davis persisted in his re- 
fusal to surrender the town and when the cannon balls 
from the guns of the fleet fell in the streets they were 
gathered up, loaded in the one American battery, and 
sent back with the customary good marksmanship of 
American gunners. 

It is said that the intrepid leader camped over night 
on what became the site of Delamore Place, and that 
he was so much pleased with it he determined some day 
to build there. At any rate, after serving in the army 
until 1819, he returned to Wilmington. There he 
learned that the owner of the ground whose situation 
had pleased him so much had begun to build and was 
unable to finish. At once he bought the place and com- 
pleted the house, whose walls are nearly three feet 
thick. Here he spent many of the years that inter- 
vened before his death, in 1854. 

But perhaps Delamore Place is best known as the 
residence of Thomas F. Bayard, during his career as 
Senator, Secretary of State, and Ambassador to Eng- 
land. For a time it was occupied also by Howard Pyle, 
the artist. 

It is claimed that no house on or near the King's 
Highway has had more men of note within its walls 
than old Delamore Place. President Polk was once a 

75 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

guest at dinner here. General Louis Cass and Stephen 
A. Douglas visited in the house, while President Cleve- 
land spent a Sunday here in 1893. 

Near the southern boundary of the city, between 
Maryland Avenue and the Pennsylvania Railroad, is the 
distinguished looking mansion Latimeria, which was 
built in 1815. The builder was William Warner, who 
took an original method of selecting a plan. The story 
is that he gave a dinner to a company of his friends 
and requested each gentleman guest to bring with him 
a set of plans for the house he proposed to build. The 
favored plan was brought by Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, 
founder of the great powder manufacturing house. 

In 1838 the house became the property of John R. 
Latimer, a descendant of James Latimer, a member of 
the Council of Safety of 1776, and president of the 
Delaware Assembly that was the first to ratify the Con- 
stitution of the United States. He was the great-grand- 
father of the present owner of the house, who delights 
to show visitors the mementos of the past within its 
walls. Among these are two large paintings of the tea 
ship owned by John Latimer, who was a Philadelphia 
tea merchant. Other treasures are preserved in a cabi- 
net in the library. This is filled with wonderful tea 
sets which the merchant brought from China, as well 
as other rare specimens of Oriental ware. 

The house is still a prominent feature in the land- 
scape, which it has dominated since first the travelers 
on the King's Highway paused to admire the graceful 
lines of a building that is unlike anything to be found 
on this or any other road. 

76 



Ill 

THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

ON May 4, 1833, Samuel Breck, of Philadelphia, 
wrote a prophecy of the time when stage coaches 
on roads out of Philadelphia to Baltimore and 
Washington would be things of the past. He said: 

Undoubtedly, a traveler will be able to go from 
Baltimore to New York by the light of a summer's sun 
when the locomotive shall be placed on the Amboy 
railroad. An invitation to a three o'clock dinner may 
now be complied with by the individual who takes 
his breakfast in either of these cities; and with the 
loco, when established, he may start from one city in 
the morning, and return again in the evening from a 
visit to the other. 

Before he left America, however, he was not so 
enthusiastic. After telling of a journey in an ugly 
box attached to a "loco," he asked: 

Shall we be much longer kept by this toilsome 
fashion of hurrying, hurrying, from starting (those who 
can afford it) on a journey with our own horses and 
moving slowly, surely and profitably through the coun- 
try, with the power of enjoying its beauty and be the 
means of creating good inns? Undoubtedly, a line of 
post-horses and post-chaises would long ago have been 
established along our great roads had not steam monop- 
olized everything. Steam, so useful in many respects, 
interferes with the comfort of traveling, destroys every 
salutary distinction in society, and overturns by its 

77 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

whirligig power the once rational, gentlemanly and 
safe mode of getting along on a journey. 

He gave an amusing description of the trials endured 
"for the sake of doing uncomfortably in two days what 
would be done delightfully in eight or ten": 

If one could stop when one wanted, and if one were 
not locked up in a box with fifty or sixty tobacco 
chewers; and the engine and fire did not burn holes in 
one's clothes; and the springs and hinges didn't make 
such a racket; and the smell of the smoke, of the oil 
and of the chimney did not poison one; and if one 
could see the country, and was not in danger of being 
blown sky high or kicked off the rails, — it would be 
the perfection of traveling. 

A second time he assumed the role of prophet, 
writing what in these days sounds like an anticipation 
of the automobile: 

After all the old fashioned way . . . with one's own 
horses and carriages, with liberty to dine decently in 
a decent inn and be master of one's movements, with 
the delight of seeing the country and getting along 
rationally, is the mode to which I cling, and which 
will be adopted again by the generations of after time. 

When the first petitions were presented for the 
building of a turnpike on the route of the present Bal- 
timore Road, the petitioners did not think of any 
means of communication from city to city but the 
stage coach. They wece quite content to look forward 
to a speed of from six to nine or ten miles an hour, 
and they were sure that a second road from Philadel- 
phia toward Baltimore would be profitable. Evidently 
the authorities agreed with them, for in 1809 the Phila- 
78 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

delphia. Brandy wine, and New London Turnpike Com- 
pany was chartered to build by way of Chadd's Ford 
to the State Hne toward Baltimore. On April 2, 1811, 
permission was given to the builders to lay the route 
"over the road leading from Schuylkill to Darby, com- 
monly called the Woodlands Road, where said road 
diverges from the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turn- 
pike." 

An early guidebook names but four points in the 
first section of this early road: Hamiltonville, two 
miles; Wrightstown, sixteen miles; Chadsford, twenty- 
five miles; and Kennett Square, thirty-three miles. 

Most of the country through which the road passes 
for the first ten miles of the course has been so well 
built up that old landmarks are scarce. Some of them 
may be picked out by the careful observer, however. 
For instance, there is the house at Clifton Heights, 
between the turnpike and the railroad, built in 1729, 
and in Swarthmore, on the campus of Swarthmore 
College, is the house of Benjamin West, the artist. 

But those who have time for a short side trip from 
Swarthmore will find, within a space of two miles, not 
only many old houses, but industries which had their 
beginning before the Constitution was framed, as well 
as sites and relics to which pilgrimage should be made 
by everybody who delights in the picturesque and the 
unusual. 

The way to the glen where history was made is 

through Swarthmore, then down Crum Creek until 

Avondale, the mansion of Thomas Leiper, is reached. 

The house is on the right, built on the side of a hill. 

79 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The walk from the creek road to the front door leads 
from a gateway whose posts are great stone slabs from 
the old Leiper quarry near by. 

Thomas Leiper, the Genius of the Glen, came to 
America from Scotland in 1764, wh^n he was nineteen 
years old. At first he lived in Virginia, where he became 
interested in the tobacco business. Later he came to 
Philadelphia. His first tobacco warehouse was at 9 
North Water Street. In 1774 he was known as a man- 
ufacturer of snuff, and his place of business was at 
274 Market Street. 

The canny Scot, when looking for a site for a new 
snuff manufactory, was attracted by the water power 
ready to his hand on Crum Creek. Here he opened 
a stone quarry, built a snuff mill, and a cotton mill, 
and a grist mill, and erected substantial stone houses 
for his quarrymen, which are occupied to-day by the 
Italian successors of the laborers of one hundred and 
thirty years ago. 

The crowning feature of the glen was, and still is, 
the mansion built in 1785. This is known as Avondale 
Place, the name of the village of quarry workmen 
being Avondale. From the creek side the old house is 
seen to be four stories high, but from the hillside it 
appears to be but a regulation two story and attic 
house. 

The most striking feature of the house is the exquis- 
itely simple portico and doorway, said to be the finest 
entrance in Delaware County. The steps leading to 
the portico are worn with the passage of many feet. 
The pavement at either side of those steps is of marble 
80 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

brought to America as ballast in one of the Leiper ships. 

At the side of the house is a curious structure that 
looks like a bank vault. The Genius of the Glen was 
far from banks, so he built this strong house that could 
defy the attempts of thieves to enter it. Even to-day 
a cracksman would have to use much ingenuity to get 
inside. The walls are two feet thick, the ceiling is 
vaulted and re-enforced, the door is iron-bound, and 
the windows are narrow slits which widen toward the 
interior. To-day it is used as a den by Miss Leiper, 
the owner of the old homestead. The small iron-bound 
chest in which especially valuable articles were stored 
is now a wood-box. When this is empty two men would 
find it difficult to lift it. 

Thomas Leiper was a man of vision. He sought a 
better means of getting to tidewater the product of 
his quarries than ox-wagons and dirt roads could give. 
In 1791 he asked permission of the Pennsylvania 
Assembly to cut a canal from the quarry to tidewater. 
The petition was supported by many Philadelphia 
business men, but others objected. The permission 
sought was declined, on the ground that the scheme 
was "chimerical, visionary and ruinous." 

For twenty-one years the quarryman struggled 
along with inadequate transportation facilities. In 
September, 1809, on a vacant tract beside the BuIFs 
Head tavern, on Front Street near Poplar Street, 
Philadelphia, he directed John Thomson — civil en- 
gineer, father of John Edgar Thomson, builder of 
parts of the Pennsylvania Railroad system, and for 
twenty-seven years president of that system — and a 
6 81 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Scotch millwright named Somerville, in the construc- 
tion of a trial track one hundred and eighty feet long. 
The rails of wood rested on sleepers eight feet apart. 
The grade was one and a haK inches to the yard. 

Those who watched the operation were incredulous 
when they were told that the builders expected to see 
a horse drag a heavy load up the incline. They pre- 
pared to jeer when a car with grooved wheels was 
placed on the track and loaded with five tons. To 
their amazement one horse pulled the car with ease 
to the end of the line, though several horses would 
have had a hard task with a similar load on a level road. 

Then Thomas Leiper was ready to let the contract 
for a railroad one mile long, to be built from his quar- 
ries on Crum Creek, across to tidewater on Ridley 
Creek. John Thomson secured the contract. For 
nineteen years this was operated, the first practical 
railroad in the country. The first track was of wood, 
but the friction of the flanges of the iron wheels 
soon wore out the wood. A track of stone was 
then substituted. The cars were drawn by horses 
and oxen. 

In 1828 Thomas Leiper's son, George Grey Leiper, 
who lived at Lapidea, a short distance from Avondale 
Place, succeeded in securing from the Legislature the 
permission to build a canal, which had been denied 
his father. The canal as built had two locks. One of 
these has almost entirely disappeared, though the sec- 
ond, not far from Avondale, is in a good state of preser- 
vation. 

In 1829 the canal was opened for traffic. The first 
82 




AVONDALE 

"The most beautiful doorway in Delaware County' 




AVONDALE, THOMAS LEIPER's HOUSE, 1785 
On Crum Creek, near Swarthmore 







.'^^ .^1 




THOMAS VEIPES'* PKXYAXK H.\NK \,\V tl\ ,vVv»;i>AUlii 



V\ >. 



ij^M:* 




N . V-v O .'N -^ v. 



7 If h /i ,'-- L 7 J M R E T r; R : : yj K K 

bo<j.t to ';riV;r tLe ux>p<?r lodk:, th.e WWmrrc Htrickf/j.n/f., 
f:b.rn'A a loa4 of gixesU au/i a brass banjcL Wiiea th<; 
fi^::<x/rjd Ir>ck v/as r(i^/ihfA th<i Delavrare Co'JLritv VoI'iXi- 
f/:*ir BalUliori aad th.<i V(iSinjiy\vh.nlj!i Artillerists were 
on hand t/j give tLe nxartial salute. 

The carj^j v/as a saccesfe — t/xj raucli of a saccess, 
in fa/^-t — ^for fco much v/atx:;r v/as reqiiired to run it tLat 
tlie varioijjs mHis were deprived of tkelr power. A sec- 
ond railroad was th-ereupon biiilt, down Crurn Creek 
to the Chester turnpike and IxiyQiifL Tbis road Is 
still in us^;; it Is opfirh.UA \rj the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railway Company. 

The right of v/ay of the cm^jiaiS. raUvray, ar-jross 
the ridge from Avondale qij^rry to liidley Creek, may 
still be ^th/'/A by the embankm.ent, on the prox>erty of 
Statue Senator Sproul, the prfin^mt ovijier oi th^ land on 
whieh L<>.jjide<i., G'p^jrge Lelper's house, stood.. In the 
S^enator's nev/ hou% are .some of the old mantels from 
Lajjidea. 

Passerjgers by the Chester Short Line, which passes 
Leix>'irvi]le half a mile to the east of the Chester tiixn- 
pike, are sometimes t^jid ths-t the narrov.'-gauge road 
alorj;;/ the north bank o? Crum Creek, betrreen the car 
line and the pike, is the original Leiper road. The 
fact that this road also leads from a large quarr>' gi'.-es 
color to the statement. Thr>se who start on this false 
scent should foiiov/ the narrow-gaioge road to a small 
footbridge across the creek. A prr.'atc road lea.ds from 
this to the Chest/jr roa/i. From Chester road Fairview 
road leads up the creek to the Avondale quarry. 

The road t/j the quarry leads past the Lelper/Ille 
/ " % 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Presbyterian Church, organized in 1818. In the orig- 
inal building Andrew Jackson, Elisha Kent Kane, James 
Buchanan and Harriet Lane, Buchanan's beautiful 
niece, were worshipers more than once. 

Thomas Leiper had time for other than business 
activities. He was the first sergeant of the First Troop 
of Light Horse, later the City Troop, he was at the 
side of General Mercer when he fell on the battlefield 
of Princeton, and later he welcomed to his city home 
many of the makers of early history. It is said that 
in his home, in 1800, Jefferson was nominated for the 
Presidency. 

Those who go down Crum Creek from Swarthmore 
should continue the trip along the creek and over 
toward Ridley Creek, to Waterville. Near the trolley 
from Chester to Media, on a hill at the left, is the house 
which one of the sons of John Sharpless, immigrant, 
built in 1699. Several hunderd yards from the house, 
on the bank of Ridley Creek, is the great boulder 
against which John Sharpless himself built his first 
house, in 1682. Here was the start of the Sharpless 
family in America, one of the most prominent of the 
Quaker families. Isaac Sharpless, long President of 
Haverford College, is a descendant. 

From Crum Creek, it is easy to reach the Provi- 
dence Road, one of the historic highways of Delaware 
County. Several of the best of the inns for which the 
county was famous in early days may be found along 
this road. One of these. Providence Inn, at Media, 
has been converted into a hospital. Another, the Rose 
Tree Inn, is located a short distance above Media, at 
84 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

the intersection of Providence Road and the Rose 
Tree Road. The old signboard of the inn has been 
appropriated by the Rose Tree Hunt, whose club house 
is located directly across the Providence Road. 

Fox-hunting has been a popular diversion in Dela- 
ware, Chester and Montgomery counties since early 
days, though there is no record of an organized hunt 
in these counties during colonial times. The first hunt 
in the vicinity of Philadelphia was the Gloucester Fox 
Hunting Club, organized December 13, 1766, in the 
Coffee House at the corner of what is now Front and 
Market streets, Philadelphia. On the list of the one 
hundred and twenty-five members were the names 
Wharton, Willing, Chew, Mifflin, Cadwalader, Leiper 
and Penrose. Captain Samuel Morris, who later organ- 
ized the City Troop, was the first president. The first 
huntsman was "Old Natty," a slave belonging to Cap- 
tain Morris. In his charge, at one time, was a pack of 
sixteen couples of hounds. Most of the hunting was 
done in New Jersey, but sometimes the hounds were 
brought across the river and more than once they 
picked up the trail of the fox among the hills where 
the Rose Tree Hunt has its headquarters. 

During the years since the Gloucester Hunt dis- 
banded, in 1818, there have been a number of suc- 
cessors. Perhaps the most famous of these are the 
Radnor Hunt and the Rose Tree Hunt, though long 
before these were organized many farmers and their 
friends turned aside from work to the pursuit of the 
fox. 'Bayard Taylor, in "The Story of Kennett," tells 
of one of these gatherings: 

' 85 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The owners of the hounds picked out their several 
animals and dragged them aside, in which operation 
they were uproariously assisted by the boys. The 
chase in Kennett, it must be confessed, was but a very 
faint shadow of the old English pastime. It had been 
kept up, in the neighborhood, from the force of habit 
in the Colonial times, and under the depression which 
the strong Quaker element among the people exercised 
upon all sports and recreations. The breed of hounds 
had considerably degenerated, and few, even of the 
richer farmers, could afford to keep thoroughbred 
hunters for this exclusive object. Consequently all 
the features of the pastime had become rude and imper- 
fect, and, although very respectable gentlemen still 
gave it their countenance, there was a growing sus- 
picion that it was a questionable if not demoralizing 
diversion. 

The Rose Tree Fox Hunting Club is said to be the 
oldest in the country. It was formed in 1873 at the 
Rose Tree Inn, by a company of riders who for years 
had made a practice of organizing a hunt, bringing 
together riders and hounds as they could. As early as 
1853 two riders had kept their hounds at the tavern. 
There were famous hounds and daring riders in those 
days; tales are still told of their exploits. Indeed, the 
first members had gained so much experience in follow- 
ing the hounds that for many years no Master of the 
Hounds or Huntsman was required. 

From the Rose Tree Hunt return may be made 
through Media to the Baltimore Road. It is of 
interest to note that the town is built on seven hundred 
acres of the plot of about twelve hundred and fifty 
acres sold by William Penn to Peter Taylor and his 
86 




Kdi k \l W \ I I in II 1 I , <IN lill)lL\ ( HI l.K 
Whtre lohn Shdrpless built his first house in 1682 




OLD PROVIDED) I ; I\N 
Now the Media HospiUd 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

brother William, for a little more than ten cents an acre. 

At the intersection of Edgemont Road, beyond 
Media, is the residence of Allen Cunningham, remodeled 
in 1915 from the old Black Horse Inn which dates from 
1739. On November 27 of that year William Noblit 
asked permission to keep tavern in "a newly built and 
Commodious stone house upon the great road Leading 
from Chester to the Valley." He argued that the tav- 
ern was a necessity for the public generally, and that 
it was especially needed because it was located "about 
three-quarters of a mile from the Presbyterian Meet- 
ing-house which Commonly is a great resort of people," 
some of them "having ten or fifteen miles to travel to 
the sd. place of worship." 

Probably many of the members of the church to 
which Landlord Noblit referred in his petition — Mid- 
dletown Presbyterian Church, at Elwyn, a short dis- 
tance down the Edgemont Road, which was founded 
in 1778 — would not have agreed that they needed a 
tavern for use between services. They had other means 
of passing the time. One of the treasured possessions 
of the church is a folio volume, inscribed thus on a 
blank page: 

This Book call'd M'' Baxter's Directary, was given 
by y® Reverend D"^ Isaac Watts of London to the Prot- 
estant Dissenters usually assembling for Worship at 
Middletown Meeting House in Pennsylvania, that 
people who came from far, and spend their whole day 
there, may have something proper to entertain them- 
selves with, or to read to one another between the 
seasons of worship for morning and afternoon: & 'tis 
for this end entrusted to y^ care of the Protestant Dis- 
/ 87 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

senting Minister who preaches there and to his suc- 
cessors, to be used by him or them in their weekly 
Studys, and to be secured and devoted to the Use of 
the Congregation on y® Lord's days. 

January 30th: 1735-6. 

The Book is Committed to the Care of M' Berry 
Hawley to be Carried over to Pennsylvania, and after 
he has kept it in his own hands and made the best use 
of it for six months, that is till the 30th of July next, 
he shall deliver it to the hands of the present Protes- 
tant Dissenting Minister for the purpose aforemen- 
tioned. 

In the beautiful graveyard of the Middletown 
church are two quaint and interesting tombstones a 
little more than a foot wide and not much higher. 
Near them are two venerable chestnut trees, remark- 
able for their vast size, each being not less than twenty- 
five feet in circumference and still bearing fruit. The 
inscriptions on the stones are as follows: 

MARTHA DICKEY On the footstone is: 
DECEASED HIR AGE 

AGVST T TWO YEA 

HE TWEN RS AND S 

TY FIRST IX MONT 

1731 HS 

JAMES COOPER On the footstone is: 

DECEASED THE HIS AGE FIF 

FORTH DAY OF TY TWO YE 

NOVEMBER IN ARS 
THE YEAR OF 
GOD 1731 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

Another stone in the graveyard has this record: 

Here lieth the body of Bernhard Van Laer, M. D., 
Physissian in Physick, who departed this life January 
26, 1790, aged 104 years. 

It is recorded that, in his one hundredth year, Dr. 
Van Laer rode on horseback from Marple to his Chester 
County farm, a distance of thirty miles, in one day. 
In his one hundred and second year burglars entered 
his house and demanded to be told the hiding place 
of his savings. Angered at his refusal, they abused 
him. He never recovered from the effects. 

Not far from the grave of the "physissian" is this 
inscription : 

Samuel Crozer, died 1747 
My glass is run, 
My work is done. 
My body under ground; 
Intombed in Clay 
Until the day 
I hear the trumpet sound. 

About as far up the Edgemont Road from the old 
Black Horse as Middletown church is below it, is the 
historic settlement Lima. Here, in 1806, Philip Yarnall 
was given leave to open a public house. The place was 
then called Middletown Cross Roads, but soon after 
the Pineapple tavern was opened the settlement won 
a new name. There was so much disorder at the tav- 
ern that the crossroads came to be known as Wrangle- 
town. Maps of the period record this unpleasant name. 
The reputation of the Pineapple became unsavory and 
the license was forfeited the next year. Joseph Yar- 

89 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

nail succeeded in securing a renewal in 1816. He added 
to the evil reputation of Wrangletown, and in 1819 
the license was finally revoked. 

Some distance down the branch of Chester Creek, 
from Markham, near Chester Heights, are the ivy- 
covered walls of the second paper mill in America — 
the Ivy Mill, founded by Thomas Willcox in 1727. 
The ivy on the picturesque ruin grew from a root 
brought by the founder from his home in Devonshire, 
England. In this mill was made the paper used by 
the Colonies for paper money and during many dec- 
ades by the United States Government for its bank 
notes. 

The Glen Mills, located several miles up the main 
Chester Creek from Wawa, v/ere later built by descend- 
ants of Thomas Willcox. The paper business of the 
Glen Mills is still carried on. 

When the Ivy Mill was in its glory the boys of the 
neighborhood went to a stone schoolhouse which stands 
on the left of the road to Glen Mills, within sight of 
the turnpike, on the right. The roof of this building 
will soon be gone, and the walls will probably be torn 
down before many years; but it will be long before the 
old residents cease to pass on tales of the severity of 
masters who taught in this subscription school when 
the United States was young. Perhaps it was stand- 
ing even when the British Army marched down the 
turnpike from the field of Brandywine and turned 
into the road to Chester, at Concordville. 

Less than a mile and a half beyond Concordville 
the Wilmington Road intersects the turnpike. This 
90 




THE ROSE TREE INN, NEAK MEDIA 




WASHINGTON S HEADQUAKTEBS, NEAK CIIADD S FOilD 




LAFAYETTE S HEADQUARTER^, ^EAR CHAUD to FURD 




TURNPIKE BRIDGE OVER THE BRAXDYVVINE, AT CHADD's FORD 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

leads to the south, and crosses the curious north boun- 
dary line of the state of Delaware. On the map of 
Nicholas Scull, dated 1759, this boundary is called 
"Circle line." The story of the "circle line," the only 
boundary of the kind in the United States, is interest- 
ing. June 14, 1680, William Penn asked Charles II 
to give him a territory north of Maryland, in payment 
of a debt of £16,000, money advanced by his father to 
the government. Suggestion was made later that the 
northern boundary of the territory should extend 
twelve miles north of New Castle. "But I do not 
understand why it is precisely necessary to insist on 
just such a number of miles, more or less, in a country 
of which we know so little," was the comment of one 
of whom the request was made. Yet Penn insisted, 
and when the boundaries of what were long known as 
the lower counties of Pennsylvania were fixed, it was 
decreed that the northern line should be "on a circle 
drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle north- 
ward and eastward." 

The king who agreed to this strange boundary 
little thought that in less than one hundred years a 
British army would be opposed by the soldiers of the 
colonies, only three or four miles north of the point 
where Brandywine Creek crosses this "Circle line." 
On September 10, 1777, Washington and his men were 
waiting at Chadd's Ford, prepared to block the prog- 
ress of the British who had landed at Head of Elk on 
Chesapeake Bay. The battle which followed next day 
opened four miles north of the Ford. This point may 
be reached conveniently by taking the Wilmington 

/ 91 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Road to the north as far as DiIworthtoA?vTi. At Dil- 
worthtown a ride of two miles on the road to the left 
takes the traveler by the point where Lafayette was 
wounded, past the center of the battlefield, past the 
Friends' graveyard where many American soldiers were 
buried, and to the place where was the first firing 
between Comwallis and Washington. Comwallis's 
headquarters after the battle were not far north of 
Dilworthtown. General Howe's headquarters were on 
a cross road that leaves the Wilmington road about a 
mile south of Dilworthtown. Lafayette made his head- 
quarters in a stone house on the Baltimore Turnpike, 
near the Brandj'^wine Baptist Church — which was organ- 
ized in 1715 — and Washington's headquarters were 
just beyond the church. These buildings on the pike 
may readily be identified by the tablets on the trees. 
Lafayette's headquarters is especially noteworthy be- 
cause of the great tree between the barn and the house. 
The house was at the time of the battle a tavern kept 
by Gideon Gilpin. When Lafayette was in America 
in 1825 he visited the place and talked to Gilpin, who 
was then on his deathbed. 

Less than a mile beyond Washington's headquar- 
ters is the covered bridge over Brandywine Creek. 
This beautiful stream was called Fish Kill by the 
Swedes. The present name was given by the Dutch, it is 
said, after a vessel loaded with brandy had been wrecked 
near the point where the creek empties into the Dela- 
ware. 

Eight miles farther on is Kennett Square, the birth- 
place and the home in later life of Bayard Taylor. As 
92 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

a boy Taylor wandered over almost every foot of the 
territory for miles around, and gained the familiarity 
with the country that enabled him later to describe it 
with such charm in "The Story of Kennett." 

One almost imagines that he can identify the scene 
described in this passage: 

Having crossed the creek on a flat log, secured with 
stakes at either end, a few more paces brought her to 
the warm, gentle knoll, upon which stood the farm- 
house. Here, the wood ceased, and the creek, sweep- 
ing around to the eastward, embraced a quarter of a 
mile of rich bottom-land, before entering the rocky 
dell below. It was a pleasant seat, and the age of the 
house denoted that one of the earliest settlers had been 
quick to perceive its advantages. A hundred years 
had already elapsed since the masons had run up those 
walls of rusty hornblende rock, and it was even said 
that the leaden window-sashes, with their diamond- 
shaped panes of greenish glass, had been brought over 
from England, in the days of William Penn. In fact, 
the ancient aspect of the place — the tall, massive chim- 
ney at the gable, the heavy, projecting eaves, and the 
holly-bush in a warm nook beside the front porch, had, 
nineteen years before, so forcibly reminded one of 
Howe's soldiers of his father's homestead in mid-Eng- 
land, that he was numbered among the missing after 
the Brandywine battle, and presently turned up as a 
hired hand on the Barton farm. 

Taylor's description of the Deane Mansion was 
evidently drawn from life. Just such houses may be 
found to-day within a few miles of Kennett Square: 

The Deane Mansion stood opposite the Unicom 
Tavern. When built, ninety years previous, it had 
been considered a triumph of architecture; the mate- 

93 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

rial was squared logs from the forest, dovetailed, and 
overlapping at the corners, which had the effect of 
rustic quoins, as contrasted with the front, which was 
plastered and yellow- washed. A small portico, covered 
with a tangled mass of eglantine and coral honey- 
suckle, with a bench at each end, led to the door; and 
the ten feet of space between it and the front paling 
were devoted to flowers and rose-bushes. 

During years of wandering in Europe and America, 
the author of these descriptions was sustained by the 
thought of Mary Agnew, a playmate in childhood, 
long his promised wife. But she died, and her death, 
instead of spoiling his life, roused him to nobler efforts. 
In his journal, a few days after her death, he recorded 
this prayer: 

Almighty Father, who knowest the burden of every 
heart, help me to bear the cruel sorrow which has fallen 
upon me. Remove the weakness and blindness of my 
rebellious soul, that I may see thy ways more clearly, 
and still the outcry of my heart. Soften the bitterness 
of my grief, that I may not fail to praise thee and love 
thee, with the same confiding spirit as of old. Suffer 
me to become all that she hoped of me, all that I be- 
lieve I may become, if tjiy blessing sanctions the labors 
of my life. Help me to be purer and better than I have 
been; help me to toil more faithfully and zealously 
than I yet have toiled. 

For years he had owned to "a slender wedge of 
hope" that he might one day own a bit of ground, 
"for the luxury of having it, if not the profit of culti- 
vating it." He dreamed after this manner of the house 
he would build: 
94 



THE BALTIMORE TURNPIKE 

It must be large and stately, simple in its form, 
without much ornament — in fact, expressive of strength 
and permanence. . . . The gate shall stay open, nailed 
open, if need be, like the hospitable doors of Tartary. 

In the house of his dream, which still stands one 
mile from the center of Kennett Square, on the trolley 
line to West Chester, he entertained Whittier, Lanier, 
Stedman, Stoddard and many other literary celeb- 
rities. Here "The Story of Kennett" was written 
as well as a number of other volumes. 

When he died in Berlin, where he was United 
States Minister to Germany, on December 19, 1878, 
the body was brought to a cemetery near Cedar- 
croft for burial. On the stone above his grave are 
carved these words from his 0¥/n poem, "Deucalion": 

For Life, whose source not here began. 
Must fill the utmost sphere of man, 
And, so expanding, lifted be 
Along the line of God's decree. 
To find in endless growth all good — 
In endless toil, beatitude. 



95 



IV 

THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

ONE of the advantages of the West Chester Road 
is that the electric car from 69th and Market 
Streets has a right of way on it to West Chester. 
One of the disadvantages is that it is far from an ideal 
road for the motorist. But there is so much of beauty 
and interest along the way that a rough road should 
not be allowed to be a hindrance. 

At any rate the inconvenience caused to-day by 
the roughness of the road is nothing to the state of 
affairs described by one who has written of West Ches- 
ter travel in pioneer days. 

In those early staging times — especially when the 
frost was coming out of the ground — the road was 
often so miry and heavy, and the watering places 
always so numerous and attractive, that the drivers 
would take from breakfast time till candlelight in the 
evening to get from the city to our Borough (West 
Chester). On one of these irksome occasions, when 
Judge Darlington and Olof Stromburg were among the 
passengers, the Judge made the interjectional remark, 
"What a long road from Philadelphia to West Ches- 
ter." Olof concurred in the opinion, but added, "It's 
a good thing for us that it is so." "Why so.^*" asked 
the Judge. "Because," replied Olof, "if it was not so 
long it would not reach." 

It is no wonder the twenty-four miles to West 
Chester seemed long, for there were no towns to break 
96 



THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

the monotony of the way, and houses were scarce. As 
late as 1824 John Melish's Traveler's Companion noted 
as the] only stations on the stage road Hamilton ville, 
Cobb's Creek, Darby Creek, and Chester Creek. 

In early colonial days it was an event when such a 
thoroughfare as the West Chester Road was laid out. 
At first the grand jury was charged with the task of 
hearing petitions for new roads, viewing the proposed 
routes, and arranging for the construction. In 1692 
a change was made, when the township through which 
the road passed was given complete control of it. Eight 
years later it was ordered that county roads should be 
in the hands of the county justices, while the governor 
and his council were expected to give grave attention 
to all problems connected with the king's highway. 

As the population of the interior townships and 
counties grew, petitions for new roads multiplied, and, 
while many of these were not granted, so many roads 
were opened that Washington despaired when he saw 
how many avenues of approach to the city must be 
guarded if he would prevent supplies from reaching 
the British army in Philadelphia. However, he devised 
a most efficient means of intercepting food bound for 
the city, thus adding to the difficulties of the invaders. 

It was not until April, 1793, that the legislature 
passed a bill directing that a State road be laid out from 
Philadelphia to York through West Chester. This 
road, known as the Strasburg Road, is a little north 
of the West Chester Turnpike. Seven years after the 
authorization of this road, a tri-weekly line of stages 
was arranged for. In 1809 a line of stages ran to Lan- 
7 97 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

caster from Philadelphia by way of "Strausberg and 
West Chester." The fare to Lancaster was $3.50, 
while the fare to West Chester was $1.25. To-day 
the fare by electric car is thirty cents. Fourteen pounds 
of baggage would be carried free for each passenger, 
though excess baggage was permitted. The provision 
was made that one hundred and fifty pounds of bag- 
gage should be paid for at the rate of a passenger's 
transportation. 

In addition to the stages, Conestoga wagons, and 
private carriages, the West Chester Road saw many 
specimens of the lumbering cart, with solid wheels 
cut from symmetrical logs of proper size. Sometimes 
these wheels were built up by carpenters. 

Some of these carts found their way with grain to 
the Millbourne Mill, founded in 1757 on Cobb's Creek, 
at what is now Sixty-third and Market Streets. The 
builder was the grandson of Samuel Sellers, who bought 
hundreds of acres from William Penn in 1690. At 
first the capacity of the mill was five barrels a day, 
but this was gradually increased until to-day the out- 
put is enormous. 

For about one mile from Millbourne Mill the West 
Chester Road passes through lands that for nearly 
two centuries were in the possession of the Sellers fam- 
ily. Several of the farmhouses built by members of 
the family near the road may still be seen. Samuel 
Sellers had need for a house at an early day, for his 
marriage to Anna Gibbons was the first to be recorded 
in the minutes of the Darby Meeting. 

Two of the oldest houses on the road, one of which 
98 



f ^ 




A lAH.M IKirsI-: ON MAMIA KOAI) 




AN OLD HOUSE ON DARBY < KKKK 




'i'llK ue TACJdNAI, r^( H()()l> llol ^^l•:. NEAR NEW'KiW ,\ x^l AKi; 




THE I)H()\ K TWEKN AT HRDOMALL 



THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

is fast becoming a ruin, may be seen, soon after pass- 
ing toll gate number two. A third old stone farmhouse 
may be seen by those who will leave the turnpike at 
Manoa Road, directly opposite the grounds of the 
Delaware County Country Club. A short distance 
down the road, and opposite the Babies' Hospital, 
this relic looks down on the passers-by as it has done 
for more than a century. 

At the crossing of Darby Creek two buildings 
attract attention — one, a saw mill, built in 1837, and 
the other the residence of the proprietor of the saw mill, 
John E. Stanley. The newer portion of this house is 
venerable; the log portion is probably not far from 
two hundred years old. 

Darby Creek looks so inviting at this point that it is 
not difficult to appreciate the enthusiasm of Harold 
Donaldson Eberlein who urges lovers of nature to try 
the sport he calls "Creek Following." He suggests 
that those who want a short walk full of surprises 
should follow Darby Creek from the West Chester 
Pike to Clifton on the Baltimore Pike. This is his 
argument: 

You would see the country in a wholly new light 
and discover a hundred new aspects of familiar places 
that you have never dreamed of. You who would get 
sound outdoor pleasure from a neglected source and 
abundant healthfid exercise withal, follow the wind- 
ings of the creeks, and trace their courses afoot. It 
may sound like rank heresy in these days of automo- 
biles to urge walking for pleasure, but if you would 
really know the country you live in you must con- 
descend sometimes to use the means of locomotion 

99 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Heaven gave you and tramp where neither auto nor 
horse can take you. . . . Stout shoes and old clothes 
are indispensable to the creek follower. . . . Nowhere 
is there a richer endowment of streams than in the 
country round about Philadelphia. AH are exceeding 
fair, and many an almost unknown nook in our own 
neighborhood is just as rarely beautiful as divers of 
the far-famed spots in older lands that travelers fall 
into raptures over. 

One of the results of such a ramble might be the 
discovery of some old mill or abandoned house whose 
solid walls will lend themselves admirably to recon- 
struction. Tales are told of wise people who, seeing 
the possibilities of such structures, have bought them 
for a song, and have made for themselves delightful 
summer homes or even more permanent habitations. 

A mile and a half beyond Darby Creek, at Broomall, 
is a building that would lend itself admirably to such 
reconstruction. This was the Drove Tavern, for many 
years a popular wayside house for turnpike travelers. 
The date stone in the upper gable says the house was 
built by L. H. R. (Hugh and Rebecca Lounes) in 1796. 
The third figure is obscured, and there are residents of 
the village who insist that, by the use of opera glasses, 
they have made it 2 instead of 9. The probability 
is that they are wrong, though it is perhaps true 
that the lower portion of the house, built of logs, is 
much older than the more conservative reading of the 
date stone would indicate. The tavern had a license 
from 1800 to 1842. Here many thousands of hungry 
men found refreshment. Probably some of them would 
have appreciated the humor of the lines written by 

100 



THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, after stopping 
at an inn a few miles from Philadelphia: 

Here two long rows of market folk were seen, 
Ranged front to front, the table placed between, 
WThere trays of meat and bone and crusts of bread 
And hunks of bacon all around were spread; 
Or pints of beer from lip to lip went round. 
And scarce a bone the hungry house-dog found. 
Torrents of Dutch from every quarter came. 
Pigs, calves and sauer kraut the important theme, 
While we, our future plans revolving deep. 
Discharged our bill and straight retired to sleep. 

Alexander Wilson would have enjoyed associating 
with a French traveler, Jean Pierre Brissot de War- 
ville, who visited the United States in 1788, because 
he, too, saw the pleasing side of accommodations on 
the road in which many others saw nothing but what 
was vexatious. After one of his trips by stage, he 
wrote: 

The carriage is a kind of open wagon, hung with 
double curtains of leather and wool, which you raise 
or let fall at pleasure; it is not well suspended. But 
the road was so fine, being sand and gravel, that we 
felt no inconvenience from that circumstance. The 
horses are good, and go with rapidity. These carriages 
have four benches, and may contain twelve persons. 
The light baggage is put under the bench, and the 
trunks fixed on behind. 

Let the Frenchmen who have travelled in these 
carriages, compare them to those used in France; to 
those heavy diligences where eight or ten persons are 
stuffed in together; to those cabriolets in the environs 
of Paris, where two persons are closely confined, and 
deprived of air, by a dirty driver, who torments his 

101 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADEIiPHI A 

miserable jade: and those carriages have to run over 
the finest roads, and yet make but one league an hour. 
If the Americans had such roads, with what rapidity 
would they travel? since notwithstanding the incon- 
venience of the roads, they now run ninety-six miles 
in a day. Thus, with only a century and a half of 
existence, and opposed by a thousand obstacles, they 
are already superior to people who have been undis- 
turbed in progress for fifteen centuries. 

Brissot found it interesting to study his fellow 
passengers: 

You find in these stages men of all professions. 
They succeed each other with rapidity. One who goes 
but twenty miles, yields his place to one who goes 
farther. The mother and daughter mount the stage 
to go ten miles to dine. Another stage brings them 
back. At every instant, thus, you are making new 
acquaintances. The frequency of these carriages, the 
possibility of finding place in them, and the low and 
fixed price, invite the American to travel. 

Beyond Broomall, opposite the grounds of the 
Pennsylvania Hospital, is one of the most curious 
buildings in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, the old 
Octagon School. This was built in 1815 by the Friends 
of Newtown Meeting on the meeting house lot, and 
was opened as a subscription school. In 1836 a 
Friend provided in his will the annual payment of two 
hundred dollars for the support of the school. It is 
probably due to this fact that the building has been 
kept in repair while other school buildings of the 
period when the octagon plan was popular have fallen 
into decay. 

Newtown Square, the cross-roads settlement a short 

102 



THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

distance beyond the Octagon School, for many years 
had a struggle with its rival, the old Square, at the 
intersection of the Newtown and Goshen roads, three- 
fourths of a mile to the north. When Thomas Holme 
made his map of 1681 he said that William Penn had 
planned a town at the crossroads which should be 
"the first inland town west of Philadelphia." 

A house on the Goshen road was one of Washing- 
ton's outposts during the British occupation of Phila- 
delphia in 1777-1778, and the soldiers quartered there 
were charged with the duty of cutting off supplies 
of all kinds designed for the use of the army of occupa- 
tion in the city. 

The Castle Rocks are a natural feature of great 
beauty, two miles from Newtown Square. These are 
more than one hundred feet high, and are honeycombed 
with fissures and caverns. The beauty of the rocks 
has been somewhat marred by the efforts of a manu- 
facturer to crush the rock for ballast, but fortunately 
he had to abandon the effort because of its extreme 
hardness. 

The farm on which the rocks are located is noted 
because it was patented by William Penn to Samuel 
Bradshaw, in 1682, and because it was the scene of 
the capture, in 1778, of James Fitzpatrick, the out- 
law, who terrorized the countryside for several years. 
The site of the house where he was captured is close 
to the house next beyond the Castle Rocks, on the 
right. 

James Fitzpatrick, whom Bayard Taylor in "T'he 
Story of Kennett" called "Sandy Flash," and whom 

103 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

others have called the Rob Roy McGregor of Penn- 
sylvania, was an Irish blacksmith who enlisted in the 
American Army, and deserted. When arrested by two 
soldiers, he asked them to go with him to his mother's 
house, that he might get some clothing. Entering 
the house in advance of them, he seized his rifle and 
drove his captors away. From_that day he was an 
outlaw, and scores of travelers had cause to regret 
his escape from the soldiers. But he would not make 
war on women. One day, it is said, he met an old 
woman who was on her way to Philadelphia to pur- 
chase supplies. Wlien she saw him his engaging man- 
ner made her confidential; she told him how she dreaded 
meeting Captain Fitz and being robbed of all she had. 
Thereupon he told her that he was the man she dreaded, 
but that she had no reason to fear, as he would scorn 
to rob a defenseless woman. Drawing from his pocket 
a well-filled purse, he handed it to her, and left her 
rejoicing. 

Bayard Taylor told of a man who recognized the 
highwayman on a lonely road: 

The victim uttered a cry and gave himself up for 
lost. This was the redoubtable highwayman — the 
terror of the country — who for two years had defied 
the law and all its ordinary and extraordinary agents, 
scouring the country at his will, between the Schuyl- 
kill and the Susquehanna, and always striking his 
blows where no one expected them to fall. This was 
he in all his dreadful presence, a match for twenty 
men, so the story went. 

Again the novelist related an incident that is still 
described with bated breath by countrymen to whom 

104 



THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

it has been passed down by tradition. It is said that 
once he appeared at a tavern where a score of men, 
armed for the purpose of catching him, were gathered: 

All eyes, turned toward the crossing of the roads, 
beheld, just rounding the corner house, fifty paces 
distant, a short, broad-shouldered determined figure, 
making directly for the tavern. His face was red and 
freckled, his thin lips half-parted with a grin which 
showed the flash of white teeth between them, and his 
eyes sparkled with the light of a cold, fierce courage. 
He had a double-barrelled musket on his shoulder, 
and there were four pistols on the tight leathern belt 
about his waist. 

"WTioever puts finger to trigger, falls. Back, back, 
I say, and open the door for me!" 

Still advancing as he spoke, and shifting his pistol 
so as to cover now one, now another of the group, he 
reached the tavern porch. Some one opened the door 
of the bar-room, which swung inwards. The highway- 
man strode directly to the bar, and then stood, facing 
the open door, while he cried to the trembling bar- 
keeper, — 

"A glass o' rye, good and strong!" 

It was set before him. Holding the musket in his 
arm, he took the glass, drank, wiped his mouth with 
the back of his hand, and then, spinning a silver dol- 
lar into the air, said, as it rang upon the floor, — 

"I stand treat to-day; let the rest o' the gentlemen 
drink at my expense!" 

He then walked out, and slowly retreated back- 
wards toward the comer-house, covering his retreat 
with the levelled pistol, and the flash of his dauntless 
eye. 

Still another incident of the redoubtable adventurer 
is current: 

105 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

In 1778 a blacksmith's apprentice near Newtown 
was starting fires in the morning. A young man rode 
up and asked to have a shoe put on his horse. The 
apprentice was persuaded to attempt the task. While 
preparing the hoof, the young man asked for an apron 
and proposed that the apprentice blow the bellows 
while he drove the nail. The boy objected, that the 
animal might be lamed. But the young man said he 
would take the risk. It was soon evident that he was 
master of the trade. 

"You are well armed, sir. Are you in the army.^*" 
the boy asked. 

"It is dangerous to travel this road alone," was the 
reply. > "They tell me there is a Capt. Fritz or Fitch, 
who frequents this neighborhood, and the people are 
much afraid of him, I've heard." 

"Many people are afraid of him," the apprentice 
said. 

"Have you ever seen him.f*" came the question. 

"No, but I have heard him described," was the 
reply. 

"Do I answer the description .f^" the volunteer black- 
smith asked. 

Then he mounted, and said, "You have never seen 
Fitzpatrick. I'm going now, and I might just as well 
say to you that Fitzpatrick happens to be my name." 

In Edgemont township, in which Castle Rocks are 
located, near Gradyville, is the striking house of John 
Yarnall, pioneer. This has been called the "trick 
house," for when it is approached from different direc- 
tions it presents a decidedly altered appearance. This 
is due to the fact that one main wall and one gable 
are of stone, while the second main wall and the sec- 
ond gable are of brick. 
106 




15 MILES TO PHILADELPHIA 
The roots of the walnut tree have grown about the milestone 




THE JOHN YARNALL HOUSE, 1720, NEAR EDGEMONT 

Called "The Trick House" because front wall and east gable are of brick, while rear wall 

and west gable are of stone 



THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

Like all the farmhouses of early days, the Yarnall 
house had its own outdoor bake-oven. These bake- 
ovens of the pioneers were described by a man whose 
boyhood was spent on just such a farm as that of John 
Yarnall : 

They were from six to eight feet long by three to 
five feet wide, of an oval shape, in which a dozen large 
loaves of bread, forty or fifty pies, a little pig, a great 
roast or two turkeys and several chickens could be 
baked all at the same time. The preparation of oven 
wood was a serious matter to the farm hands, so much 
so that in the rustic parties and sham weddings with 
which the young people amused themselves, they 
required the suffering groom to promise that "he 
would be true and would be good, and keep his wife 
in oven wood." 

One of the Yarnall family, Isaac, was complained 
of by Middletown Meeting, on "8, 27, 1753," for mar- 
riage to one who was not a member of meeting, and 
without his mother's consent. For this he was dis- 
owned. 

By that time the upper part of what was then Ches- 
ter County was getting so well settled that the farmers 
began to urge that the county seat, which had been at 
Chester since the days of William Penn, should be 
removed to a more convenient location. But agitation 
did not bear fruit until March 20, 1780, when Assembly 
passed an act authorizing the removal of the court 
house and jail from Chester to West Chester, a settle- 
ment then known as the Turk's Head, because of the 
tavern of this name (still standing) which was built 
in 1774. The enabling act named men who were to 

107 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

carry out the wishes of Assembly, but evidently these 
men were more in favor of continuing the county seat 
at Chester or removing it to one of the other locations 
that had been setting up a claim for it. At any rate 
they had the temerity to ignore the commission. Ac- 
cordingly, on March 22, 1784, a supplement to the 
original act authorized other men to undertake the 
work. They proceeded at once to erect a court-house 
and a jail near the Turk's Head. 

In the mean time the citizens of Chester, alarmed 
lest that borough should lose its prestige when no longer 
the county seat, bestirred themselves, brought pres- 
sure to bear on the Assembly, and on March 30, 1785, 
an act was passed suspending the supplement to the 
original act. 

In triumph a company of Chester sympathizers 
decided to go to the Turk's Head and demolish the 
new buildings. Word of their intention was received 
in West Chester in plenty of time to make preparation 
to give the visitors a warm welcome, if they should 
appear. But they did not appear. Conference between 
the parties, on neutral ground, resulted in a decision 
to await the further action of the Assembly. This 
action was taken on March 18, 1786, when the sus- 
pending act was repealed by a fourth act with the 
curious title: 

An act to repeal an act intitled an act to suspend 
an act of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, 
intitled an act," etc. 

But the residents of the lower part of Chester 
County were not satisfied. Again they appealed to 

108 



THE WEST CHESTER TURNPIKE 

the Assembly, and on September 26, 1789, the county 
was divided, Delaware County was formed, and Ches- 
ter was made the county seat. This distinction re- 
mained hers for more than sixty years, when Media 
took the prize from her. 

The borough of West Chester dates from March 28, 
1799. Its growth was slow but steady. The first 
great event to break the monotony of quiet develop- 
ment was the completion of the railroad to the borough 
in 1836. Carried away by their enthusiasm, the citi- 
zens planned to bring the railroad to the doors of as 
many as possible. An attempt was made to extend 
the track through the streets. But the plan did not 
work out well; "the project proved as abortive in its 
results as it was crude in its conception," a county 
historian says. The "appendage" was removed as a 
nuisance. 

Those early enthusiasts were only a few decades 
ahead of time. If they could see to-day the trolley tracks 
in the streets of the borough, they would feel like saying, 
"We told you so!" 



100 



V 

ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

WHEN the sturdy Swedish settlers who preceded 
the colonists of William Penn ventured into 
the interior from what is now Philadelphia, 
many of them followed the Kitanning Path, one of 
the best known of the trade routes out from the Del- 
aware and the Schuylkill. At that time there was no 
ferry across the Schuylkill at the present Market 
Street. No ferry was provided until after the meeting 
of the first Assembly in 1682. 

The keeper of the first ferry was not satisfactory 
to the early travelers. When some of them appealed 
to the Council, he was warned "to Expedit a sufficient 
ferry boat for horses and cattle to pass to and fro over 
the Schuylkill as also to make the way on both sides 
easy and passable both for horse and man to Loe water 
Mark; otherwise ye Council will make Care to dispose 
of it to such as will dispose of ye same." 

Complaints continued until 1723, when the ferry 
privilege was leased to Aquila Rose for twenty-one 
years. He was required to get substantial boats and 
make good landings. In consideration of this invest- 
ment, the promise was made that he should have a 
monopoly of ferry privileges for some distance up and 
down the river, and he was allowed to charge a reason- 
able toll. Foot passengers were taxed one penny, and 
110 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

a loaded cart or wagon had to pay one shilling. He 
went ahead with pleasing speed to mend the condi- 
tions of which complaint had been made, but only a 
little while after the ferry privilege became his he was 
drowned while at work. A rhymester of the day 
explained : 

'Twas then that, wading through the chilling flood, 
A cold ill humor mingled with his blood. 

The first petition for a bridge was presented to the 
Assembly in 1751, and Benjamin Franklin, Casper 
Wistar and Charles Norris were appointed to study 
the situation and report. In August, 1751, they re- 
ported in favor of a bridge "near to the end of the 
Market street where Captain Coultas keeps his ferry." 
But nothing further was heard of this proposition. 

Three years later, when Thomas Pownall passed 
this way, he wrote of Coultas's Ferry: 

The ferry-boats at Schuylkill . . . are the most con- 
venient I ever saw; and the oars with which they are 
rowed over, rigged out in a manner the most handy 
that can be devised; they are fixed in an iron fork, so 
as to have a perpendicular motion, and they are loaded 
towards the hand, so as to be nearly ballanced, leav- 
ing, however, the feather of the oar rather the more 
heavy; this fork is fixed on a pivot, in the gunwale of 
the boat, by which the oar has free horizontal motion. 
By this simple contrivance of mechanism, a very 
slight boy can manage a pair of large heavy oars, and 
row over a large ferry boat. 

It is recorded that in 1770 the entire income of the 
city of Philadelphia was but eight hundred pounds, 
and that two hundred pounds of the amount came 

111 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

from the Market Street ferry, which had been taken 
over by the city. 

During the Revolutionary War several floating 
bridges were built at this point, but the first perma- 
nent bridge was built by a company incorporated in 
1798. A prospectus set forth these things, among 
others : 

The bridge is to consist of three large arches, of 
which the centre is to be two hundred and fifty feet 
long, and the other two to be each one hundred and 
fifty feet, besides these, there will be a second smaller 
arch at each end, to give greater ease for the passing 
of the waters during the freshes. The width of the 
bridge will be fifty feet, with footways on each side. 

The bridge was of wood, on stone piers. The cor- 
ner stone was laid October 18, 1800. 800,000 feet of 
lumber were used. The structure, 1300 feet long, was 
opened January 1, 1805. The cost was $300,000, and 
the receipts the first year were $13,600. This was the 
first covered bridge in America. 

A marble obelisk with inscriptions was set up on 
the western approach. One inscription read: 

No pier of regular masonry into as great a depth 
of water is known to exist in any other part of the 
world. 

Tolls were abolished in 1840, when the city became 
owner of the bridge. Thirty-five years later the struc- 
ture was burned. The temporary bridge that suc- 
ceeded it for a time was completed in two hundred 
and seven working hours. The present bridge was not 

arranged for until 1881. 
112 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

The monument erected to commemorate the orig- 
inal bridge is still standing, having been removed to 
the eastern approach to the present bridge, beside the 
gas tank. The inscriptions can no longer be read, for 
the soft stone has worn away. 

Improvements in the road that led from the bridge 
toward Lancaster kept pace with the changes in the 
method of crossing the Schuylkill. The beginnings 
of the first road date from 1687. As the years passed 
the road was extended and developed. In 1721, when 
it became necessary to organize Lancaster County, 
the residents asked for a foot road which they could 
use in taking their produce to Philadelphia. They 
argued that they had no navigable water, as the peo- 
ple in the Schuylkill valley had, and that the existing 
road was "incommodious." In 1741 the road asked 
for was opened. 

As the country developed, and travel increased, it 
was evident that a better road was needed. In 1791, 
therefore, the Legislature authorized a company to 
construct a turnpike from Philadelphia to Lancaster, 
the first road of the kind in the country. Popular 
enthusiasm was so high that the stock offered was 
heavily oversubscribed, and it became necessary to 
choose the stockholders from among the applicants 
by lot. When thirty dollars only had been paid in on 
the shares, they were in great demand at par. 

An interesting document sent to the stockholders 
when the road was still under construction has been 
preserved. Matthias Slough, the author of the docu- 
ment, was the superintendent of the fifth of the five 
8 113 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

districts into which the road was divided. He declared 
that, as an honest man, and in accordance with his 
instructions, he had turned a deaf ear to the appeals 
of certain land owners who wished him to run the road 
crooked to suit their convenience; later they tried to im- 
pede him. This, he felt sure, was the explanation of the 
fact that the managers of the road later awarded to 
some one else the contract for a desirable section of 
the road, though his bid was two hundred pounds 
lower than that of the successful bidder. He explained 
that complaint had been made that he had not been 
able to show as good results as his neighbor, the super- 
intendent of the fourth division. He owned that much 
more work had been done in this division than in his 
own, "but," he added, "that it is to be ascribed to the 
extraordinary exertion of the superintendent, I deny." 
The real reason, he said, was that the fourth district 
lay in a barren region. The farmers, having little 
work of their own to do, were glad to work on the road. 
Further, stone was plentiful in the fields by the road- 
side. In his own district the farmers were so busy in 
their fertile fields that he could not secure help, and 
stone could be secured only at a distance and with 
great labor. More, in the fourth district only the 
easiest of the work had been done, while in his dis- 
trict he had done all his work well, in spite of difficul- 
ties. To cap the climax, he declared that the work in 
the fourth district had cost much more than in the 
fifth district. "I can lay my hand on my heart, and 
declare that I, in no instance, wantonly sported with 

one shilling of the Company's money." 
114 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

Then he went on to say to "those who prostitute 
truth at the Shrine of Malevolence": 

I should have treated all you said with the con- 
tempt it deserved; you have not confined your Mallice 
to yourselves, in propagating your infernal stories, 
but sent forth your sons and your daughters, your man 
servants and your maid servants, to calumniate and 
traduce my character abroad. 

I deem it my duty to lay before you these facts, to 
show you the treatment a worthy citizen of Chester 
County received. 

History is silent as to the result of this broadside, 
but it makes interesting reading, for it helps to show 
that himian nature was the same a century ago as it 
is to-day. 

The Lancaster Turnpike was completed in 1796. 
The first regular stage, carrying ten passengers, used 
the new road in May, 1797. It left Lancaster at five 
o'clock in the evening, and reached Philadelphia, sixty- 
six miles distant, at five o'clock next morning. 

Francis Bailey, in his Journal of a Tour in North 
America, written in 1796, pronounced the road "a 
masterpiece of its kind." That the managers pro- 
posed to keep it in good condition is evident from this 
regulation : 

Nor shall more than eight horses be attached to 
any carriage whatsoever used on said road, and if any 
wagon or other carriage shall be drawn along said road 
by a greater number of horses or with a greater weight 
(3 1-2 or 4 tons) than is hereby permitted, one of the 
horses attached shall be forfeited to the use of said 
company, to be seized or taken by any of the oflScers, 

115 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

or servants, who shall have the privilege to choose, 
excepting the shaft or wheel horse or horses. 

Another interesting document connected with the 
early history of the turnpike is the note book kept by 
one of the surveyors employed in 1806 to plan for the 
improvement of the road. On the right-hand pages 
of the note book the surveyor carefully drew the detail 
of the road on a scale of one-half mile to the inch, 
the left hand pages he used for all sorts of notes, cu- 
rious and otherwise, for example, he quoted a rhyme 
that sad experience in the rough country may have 
made him appreciate — 

On the 22d day of December 
A confounded big piece of timber 
Fell down slambang 
And Kiird poor John Lamb. 

A later note has to do with business: 

Rising the Hill at the Commencement of the fifth 
mile at the beginning of David Evan's District the 
stones are very large and ought to be broken finer. 
This however is not the fait of the present Superin- 
tendant they appear to have been left so originally in 
making the road. 

The following memorandum shows that the trav- 
elers of that day were just as averse to paying toll as 
the automobilist is to-day: 

Mr. Daniel Maul is of opinion that a 2 1-2 mile 
Gate ought to be set just below where the Gulf Road 
falls into the T, road below the Buck in order to inter- 
cept the traveling which comes in along the £d Gulf 
Road and the Old L. road, which now travels on the 
116 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

T. road about one mile and turns off to the old L. road 
again at Lenoff's Lane without paying any toll. 

As is indicated by this memorandum, the turnpike 
did not always follow the course of the original Lan- 
caster Road. At places a better route was found. 
Thus the Old Lancaster road diverges from the Lan- 
caster Turnpike from Haverford College to a point 
beyond Wayne, is identified with it for a short space, 
then has a separate existence for a longer distance. 
The two roads finally come together beyond Berwyn. 

The closing memorandum is a statement of account: 

Took with me Nov. 3, 1806 Cash $115 to bear the 
Expense of the P & Lancaster Turnpike Road. 
Nov. 6 "Snack at Eagle" .87 

Nov. 6 "rained" 5.63 

20 pd for 4 seats in the 

Lancaster stage $16. 

pd. James Dewey for 

15 days assistance 15 
Salmon Veats do 7 

16 Days Surveying 64 

The Old Lancaster Road was called the Conestoga 
Road because it was the favored route of the great 
Conestoga freighters. But long before the day of the 
Conestogas the road was a busy place. Hundreds and 
thousands of pack horses threaded their way along the 
narrow track, picturesque cavalcades whose advance 
was the signal for the gathering by the wayside of the 
scattered residents of the countryside who were hungry 
for the touch with the world which these messengers 
of commerce could give them. Frequently the drivers, 
welcoming an excuse for rest or delighted to be the 
/ 117 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

center of interest, would satisfy the curiosity of the 
settlers; sometimes, however, the sense of their own 
importance would make them keep on their way, heed- 
less of all greetings and inquiries. Human nature as 
seen on the roads in those early days was not different 
from human nature today. 

Ordinarily there were from twelve to sixteen horses 
in a pack train. In charge of each train were two 
men; one of these led the procession, picking out the 
road, while his companion brought up the rear. Bells 
formed a part of the equipment of each horse, though 
these were not for use by day so much as they were a 
convenience in locating animals that might stray from 
the camp. 

Year by year the wagon roads grew longer and 
the pack-horse routes or bridle paths grew shorter. 
Each year the point at which the transfer from wagons 
to pack-animals had to be made was advanced. Lancas- 
ter was for a time the head of the wagon road. Later 
Carlisle was the transfer point. At length the day came 
when a wagon could go all the way through to Pittsburgh. 

The pack-horse drivers did not welcome the advance of 
the roads; they did not see why they should be deprived 
of their occupation. Consequently, there was bad blood 
between the wagoners and the leaders of the passing 
industry, and clashes between them were frequent. 

At first the great Conestoga wagons ran independ- 
ently, but in time the industry was organized. Com- 
panies controlled much of the business. The Line 
Wagon Company was among the leaders. The experi- 
ment was tried of having drivers and horses in relays 
118 



? 5 r 



^ H 



> 9 



t' tfl 2; 



N 



^ 



N 




ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

along the road, and of delivering wagons at stations 
precisely as a railway crew turns over a train to others 
at a division point. But this plan did not work well; 
it was found that the drivers thought more of making 
speed than of caring for their outfit. As a result there 
were many wrecked wagons by the roadside, and the 
profits of the company were impaired. Then it was 
decided to return to the old system of making each 
driver responsible for his own outfit along the entire 
distance. 

For a generation following the Revolution the road 
was a busy place. Conestoga wagons, stages, pack 
horses, and private conveyances at times made an 
almost continuous procession. Johan Schoepf, writ- 
ing in 1784, said that there were probably "seven or 
eight thousand Dutch Waggons with four Horses each, 
that from Time to Time bring their Produce and Traf- 
fick to Philadelphia, from 10 to 100 miles distance." 
Sometimes there were as many as eight horses to a 
wagon. Each wagon had its feed trough suspended 
at the rear and the tar can swinging underneath. The 
procession on busy days must have been startling. 

A hint of the amount of the traffic at this period 
was given by Sister Catherine Fritsch, who, in May, 
1810, with half a dozen others, went from Bethlehem 
to Philadelphia, crossing over to the Lancaster Road 
at Downington. She spoke of ten wagons that stood 
at a wayside mill to be loaded with flour for the city. 
Another picture was drawn thus: 

At the toll-gates their Keepers were usually busily 
engaged in taking the toll, for sometimes three or four 

119 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

conveyances stood in waiting. Some of the gatekeepers 
kept tally on a slate of the money they took in. 

Coming early to a toll-gate we had to wait until 
the sleepy Keeper, rubbing his eyes, came out for our 
toll. Generally, these gate-keepers were taciturn, sour- 
looking men. Indeed, they seemed to me to resemble 
each other so much that I almost believed them to be 
of one family — sons of one father. 

At eight o'clock that morning she ordered break- 
fast, "but had to wait patiently for it as the passengers 
of the Post stage must first be served." 

"The more one approaches to the city," she said, 
finally, "the greater the number of conveyances of all 
kinds, and consequently the deeper the dust, which 
covered us from head to foot and even filled our mouths. 
. . . We could not see objects twenty feet ahead of us." 

The most important man on the road in the days 
of which Catherine Fritsch wrote was the driver of 
the stage coach. Next to him came the wagoner. 
Least important of all was the driver of a private con- 
veyance, as the following incident shows: 

Once a wedding party in two-wheeled gigs was on 
the way to Philadelphia. One gentleman groom drove 
against the leaders of one of the numerous wagoners 
passing in the same direction. At the next turn the 
driver called on the gentleman for redress. It took 
some diplomacy to arrange the matter. 

When travel was at its height, the returns on the 
stock of the turnpike company were large. Frequently 
the net annual earnings were more than fifteen per 
cent. But after about 1820 the profits became less. 

Many travelers have left humorous and illuminat- 
120 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

ing narratives of their experiences when the Lancaster 
road was in its glory. 

In 1778 Elizabeth Drinker went from Philadelphia 
to Lancaster. Of one day's experience she wrote in 
her diary: 

In our journey to-day we found the roads so bad, 
that we walked part of ye way, and climbed 3 fences, 
to get clear of ye mud. 

On April 9 she wrote: 

This day we forded three large rivers, the Cone- 
stoga ye last, which came into ye carriage, and wet our 
Feet, and frightened more than one of us. 

In an old diary, some one whose name is not known, 
in telling of "a trip for pleasure," wrote: 

Left Lancaster ... in good spirits, but alas, a sad 
accident had like to have turned our mirth into mourn- 
ing, for W. driving careless and Being happily engaged 
with the lady he had the pleasure of riding with, and 
not mindful enough of his charge, drove against a large 
stump which stood in the way, by which the chair was 
overturned and the lady thrown out to a considerable 
distance, but happily received no hurt. About 8 
o'clock arrived at Douglass' where supped and rested 
all night. The supper was pretty tolerable, beds indif- 
ferent, being short of sheets for the beds, the woman 
was good enough to let W. have a table-cloth in lieu 
of one. 

In 1789 a family party took passage on a stage of 
a later line, hoping for a speedy journey from Phila- 
delphia to Lancaster. Soon they overtook a husband 
and wife who had been traveling in a chair until the 
driver refused to take them further. Room was made 

121 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

for the wife in the stage; the husband walked along- 
side. The further incidents of the journey were re- 
lated by one of the party in a letter to friends. The 
road was so rough, and the load was so heavy, that 
the axle soon cracked, and the stage dropped to the 
road. Fortunately nobody was injured, so the party 
extricated themselves and "footed it Indian fashion 
to the nearest inn," two miles distant. After eating 
dinner they persuaded a countryman to take them on 
the next stage of the journey. "His team proved to 
be a country wagon without springs or cover, with no 
seats other than bundles of rye straw." However, all 
agreed that the wagon was better than walking. Fi- 
nally, after twelve weary hours, the party succeeded in 
reaching Downings. 

William Hamilton of Woodlands, who made fre- 
quent journeys to Lancaster to look after his large 
interests there, wrote to a friend, on September 1, 
1790, an account of a distressing accident: 

Having been so unfortunate in returning from Mr. 
Ross's as to overset my sulky. As one of the wheels 
struck a stone 2 feet high when I was driving at the 
rate of 7 miles an Hour you will not wonder that the 
shock was violent. Although I have to thank Heaven 
that I have no broken limb I am fearful of having for 
a long time to complain of a very severe sprained 
ankle. The agony I experienced for the first 20 min- 
utes was so extreme that I had no doubt of the leg 
being shattered to pieces. What added to my misery 
was that I was quite alone without the possibility of 
extricating myself until the chariot came up which 
was about a mile behind. The mare stopp'd (after 
dragging the sulky between 20 & 30 feet) as if she was 
122 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

shot and to this I attribute my salvation, entangled 
and helpless as I was. 

While in Lancaster on another occasion Mr. Hamil- 
ton wrote to his secretary in Philadelphia that he must 
give no hint of the time the writer planned to return 
home, for the following reason: 

From the number of people with whom I have had 
to do Business an idea has been falsely taken up of my 
having rec'd an immensity & some rascals or other 
may think me worth a speculation on the road. It 
will therefore be no more than prudent to be on my 
guard the more especially as within three days a gang 
of villanns have arrived in this town. 

In 1805 Robert Sutcliffe saw something that, even 
on this road of unusual sights, appealed to him so 
much that he wrote: 

At General Paoli Tavern, met a family who had 
now landed a few days before in Philadelphia, and were 
on their way to the Ohio. . . . The men wore a plain 
jacket and trowsers, with very large shallow crowned 
hats, and the women had their hair plaited in long 
braids, which hung down their back, with jackets and 
petticoats just the reverse of the fashion of the present 
day. Altogether they had the appearance of a stout, 
hardy race, and in the company, I understood there 
were four generations. The master of the inn informed 
me that he had every reason to believe they had a 
very large property with them, in the waggon in which 
they traveled. 

For the accommodation of the constant travel on 
the road there were sixty-one taverns in sixty-six miles. 
Many of these were kept by men of standing, fre- 
quently by members of Congress or of the state legis- 
/ 123 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

lature. After his journey to America the Count de 
Segur spoke of this fact: 

At first I was surprised, on entering a tavern, to 
find it kept by a Captain, a Major, or a Colonel, who 
was equally ready to talk, and to talk well, about his 
campaigns, his farming operations, or the Market he 
had for his produce. 

Mrs. Mary De Wees, who left Philadelphia for 
Kentucky on September 27, 1787, told in her journal 
of the frequent stops at convenient inns. One night 
she slept at the Sign of the Lamb, she breakfasted at 
Colonel Webster's, and took supper and slept at the 
United States. Next day she went on to the Waggon, 
and then to the Compass. Next came the Hat. If 
she had chosen, she might have stopped at the Buck, 
the Red Lion, the Steamboat, the Rising Sun, the 
Spread Eagle, the Ship, the Swan, the Sheaf, the Cross 
Keys, the Rainbow, or the White Horse. 

Most of these taverns entertained the weary trav- 
eler well, but sometimes the wayfarer was compelled 
to stop at a place where nothing was pleasant. Thomas 
Ashe, an Englishman, in his "Travels in America," told 
of one such experience: 

It was a miserable log house, filled with emigrants 
who were in their passage to the Ohio, and a more 
painful picture of human calamity was seldom beheld: 
old men embarking in distant, arduous undertakings, 
which they could never live to see realized; their chil- 
dren going to a climate destructive to youth; and the 
wives and mothers partaking of all their sufferings, to 
become victims in their turn to the general calamity. 
The scene held out no very strong temptation to me 

124 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

for passing the night there, but there was no alterna- 
tive; for my horse was tired, the wolves were out, and 
the roads impassable in the dark; the fire-side too, and 
all the seats were occupied, and the landlord was 
drunk. I was too much engrossed however with the 
distress around me, sensibly to feel my own. . . . 

It is of little consequence where a traveler sleeps, 
when and what he eats, and whether he is comfort- 
able, &c. In travelling along this, and every other 
road in America a stranger is furnished with a route 
indicating the best inns and their distance from each 
other; as to the expense, it seldom varies, being a 
quarter of a dollar for lodging, the same sum for every 
meal, and half a dollar a night for a horse. 

A traveler of 1795 was not quite so philosophical 
in the presence of what was not pleasing: 

The taverns are very indifferent. If the trav- 
eler can procure a few eggs with a little bacon, he 
ought to rest satisfied; it is twenty to one that a bit 
of fresh meat is to be had, or any salted meat except 
pork. 

Vegetables seem also to be very scarce, and when 
you do get any, they generally consist of turnips or 
turnip top boiled by way of greens. The bread is 
heavy and sour, though they have as fine flour as any 
in the world; this is owing to the method of making it; 
they raise it with what they call "rots," hops and water 
boiled together. The traveler on his arrival is shown 
into a room which is common to every person in the 
house, and which is generally the one set apart for 
breakfast, dinner and supper. All the strangers that 
happen to be in the house sit down at these meals 
promiscuously, and the family of the house also form 
a part of the company. It is seldom that a single bed- 
room can be procured. 

125 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

In 1810 Margaret Dwight, niece of Timothy Dwight, 
the President of Yale College, told of the accommoda- 
tions found at the end of a hard day. Her party came 
to a house which had been a tavern. They were told 
of a log hut across the road, built for "movers" like 
themselves, "that the landlord need not be bothered 
with them." He had made plenty of money, and he 
had taken down his sign. They wished to go in search 
of better accommodations, but, as their horses were 
tired, they decided to make the best of the hut. 
In her journal Miss Dwight told further facts: 

We have a good fire, a long dirty table, a few boards 
nailed up for a closet, a dozen long boards on one side 
and as many barrels in the other, two benches to sit 
on, two bottomless chairs, and a floor containing dirt 
enough to plant potatoes. 

The building of the railroad from Philadelphia to 
Columbia was the beginning of the end of the rushing 
business done by the turnpike, though when the rail- 
road company was chartered, an innkeeper on the 
turnpike said Philadelphia would be ruined, for "no 
railroad can carry the freight that the old Conestogas 
do." Just at first it seemed that the prophecy would 
come true. The railroad was crooked, and it was 
operated by horse power for some ^time. When loco- 
motives were first talked of, there was great opposi- 
tion on the part of those who used the turnpike or 
lived near it. They declared that the engines would 
destroy the value of their horses, and that sparks from 
them would set fire to their houses and barns. It 
was not until April, 1834, that the first train was drawn 

126 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

from Philadelphia to Lancaster by a locomotive, the 
Black Hawk. The time required was eight hours and 
a half. Not until 1836 did locomotives finally displace 
horsepower. Then the decline of turnpike traffic was 
rapid. 

The modern traveler who goes over the route of 
the old Columbia Railroad, or its successor, the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad, and the Lancaster Turnpike is inter- 
ested at once in the Welsh names that meet him on 
every hand — Merion, Narberth, Wynnev/ood, Bryn 
Mawr, etc. The early settlers here were Welsh Quakers 
who came in response to William Perm's invitation 
and began to carve out homes in the wilderness. 

One of these early settlers wrote of his experiences: 

By the providence of God the year 1683 I trans- 
ported myself with many of my friends to Pennsyl- 
vania where I and they arrived, the 16th day of the 
9th month 1683, being then thirty-five years old; and 
settled myself in the place which afterwards I called 
Pencoid in the township of Merion, which was after- 
ward called so by them, being the first settlers in it, 
having brought with me one servant from my native 
land, and fixed my settling here. I took to wife Gay- 
nor Roberts. 

W^illiam Penn was a frequent visitor in the homes 
of these early Welsh settlers. An incident of one of his 
visits was described by Sutcliffe in 1804. Sutcliffe was 
at the home of a friend in Merion, whose sister told 
him that on William Penn's arrival in America he 
lodged at her great-grandfather's in Merion. At 
that time her grandfather was a boy of about twelve 
years old; and being a lad of some curiosity, and not 

/ 127 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

often seeing such a guest as William Penn, he privately 
crept to the chamber door, up a flight of steps, in the 
outside of the building, which was only a log-house. 
On peeping through the latchet-hole, he was struck 
with awe, on beholding the great man upon his knees, 
by the bed-side; and could distinctly hear him in 
prayer, and in thanksgiving, that he was thus pro- 
vided for in the wilderness. 

The oldest portion of a house that is still standing 
within two miles of Merion Station may have been in 
existence at the time when Penn made this prayer of 
thanksgiving. This is Pont Reading House, a short 
distance from the Lancaster Road, on Haverford Road, 
at Ardmore Junction. This house, which is owned by 
the Humphrey family, is in three parts. The front 
section was built in 1813, the middle section dates 
from 1760, and the rear section is of unknown date. 
One of the log walls of this section may be seen by 
those who enter a door on the west side of the house. 
Much of the original furniture is still in place. The 
interior woodwork, of curly maple, was made from 
trees that grew on the estate. Judging from the trees 
still standing, there must have been a noble forest 
there when the builder of Pont Reading decided on 
the site. 

From Pont Reading house it is not far down the 
Haverford Road to Haverford Meeting, which dates 
from 1700. Distinctive features of the stone building 
are the smoke holes, one in the north wall and one in 
the south wall. In early days, in winter, it was the 
custom to kindle a fire outside the building. Flues 
128 



^PC3 




POXT READING HOUSE, ARDMORE JUNCTION 




SMOKE HOLE IN WALL OF HAVERFORD MEETING HOUSE, 1700 
The oldest church building in Delaware County 




THE BUCK T.WKKN. HA VEH1.'( )KD 







RADNOR MEETING HOUSE, 1718 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

led up through the wall, to the smoke holes. A large 
pipe set into the wall radiated the heat into the build- 
ing. This was quite an ingenious arrangement in the 
days when most churches had no provision for heating 
other than the footstoves brought from home by indi- 
vidual worshipers. That such primitive heating appli- 
ances were not always safe is indicated by an extract 
from Poulson's American Advertiser of Feb. 12, 1816: 

A stage between this city and Trenton took fire 
and was entirly consumed. It was occasioned by a 
passenger setting a hot brick on the floor of the stage 
to keep his feet warm, and, what is most extraordi- 
nary, it burnt with such rapidity that the passengers, 
six in number, with difficulty made their escape. 

Robert Sutcliffe attended Haverford Meeting one 
Sunday in 1804, when he was in Philadelphia. He 
says in the story of his travels: 

This is one of the oldest meeting-houses in Amer- 
ica; and at the early settlement of this meeting, friends 
of Philadelphia went every first day to attend it; most 
of them coming on foot a distance of about ten miles. 
At that time nearly the whole of the road was through 
a shady forest. Amongst the rest, Wm. Penn used to 
come on horseback, and would occasionally take up a 
little bare-footed girl behind him, to relieve her when 
tired. By the early minutes of the monthly meeting, 
it appeared that several friends were appointed to 
mark out a road through the woods from Philadelphia, 
to Haverford and Radnor meetings. 

From Haverford Meeting to Haverford College the 
^istance is short. The Lancaster Road is directly in 
front of the college grounds. A short distance farther 
9 129 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

on, beyond the eighth milestone, is the old Buck Tav- 
ern, built in 1735, remodeled in 1780. It is now owned 
by D. C. Martin whose grandfather bought the prop- 
erty in 1844. From that time it has not been a licensed 
house, and it is now a private residence. 

When Washington crossed the Schuylkill in Sep- 
tember, 1777, a portion of his army encamped near 
the General Wayne, at the twenty-second milestone. 
The main portion, with Washington, camped at the 
Buck. Still another portion camped at the Plough 
Tavern about eleven miles west of the Schuylkill. 
The parts of the army combined on September 15, and 
marched up the road, camping at night near the White 
Horse, above Paoli. 

Before this march was begun Washington wrote a 
letter to the President of Congress, dated "Buck Tav- 
ern, Lancaster Road, September 15, 1777, 3 p. m." 
The letter, one of the most revealing communications 
addressed by Washington to Congress, is reproduced 
here from a transcript made from the original on file 
in Washington : 

Your favor of yesterday, with its several enclos- 
ures, came to hand last night. Though I would will- 
ingly pay every attention to the resolution of Con- 
gress, yet, the late instance respecting the recall of 
General Sullivan, I must beg leave to defer giving any 
order about it, till I hear further from that honorable 
body. 

Our situation at this time is critical and delicate, and 
nothing should be done to add to its embarrassment. 

We are now most probably on the point of another 
battle, and to derange the army by withdrawing so 
130 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

many general officers from it, may and must be attended 
with many disagreeable if not ruinous consequences. 
Such a proceeding, at another time, might not produce 
any bad effect, but how can the army be possibly 
conducted with a prospect of success, if the general 
officers are taken off in the moment of battle? 

Congress may rely upon it, such a measure will not 
promote but injure the service. It is not my wish to 
prevent or delay a proper inquiry into General Sulli- 
van's conduct a single instant, when the circumstances 
of the army will admit, but now they prohibit it, and, 
I think, this suspense in his command also. The recall 
of General St. Clair obliged me to part with General 
Lincoln, whom I could but ill spare; so the whole 
charge of his division is now upon Gen'l Wagner, there 
being no other Brigadier in it but himself. . . . 

The main body of the British, from the best intelli- 
gence I have been able to get, lies near Dillworthtown, 
not far from the field of action, where they have been 
busily employed in burying their dead, which, from all 
accounts, amounted to a considerable number. 

We are moving up this road to get between the 
British and Swede Ford, and to prevent them from 
turning our right flank, by crossing the Schuylkill 
river, which they seem to have a violent inclination 
to effect, by all their movements. I would beg leave 
to recommend in the most earnest manner, that some 
board or committee be appointed, or some mode 
adopted, for obtaining supplies of blankets for the 
troops. Many are now without them, and the season 
being cold, they will be injured in their health, and 
unfitted for service, unless they are immediately pro- 
vided with them. 

Our supplies in this instance, as well as in any ar- 
ticle of clothing, cannot be too great, as there are fre- 
quent losses not easily to be avoided. 

131 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

I would also observe, that I think, in point of pru- 
dence and sound policy, every species of provisions 
should be removed from the city, except such as will 
be necessary to supply the present demands of the 
army. I have been told there are considerable quanti- 
ties in private hands, which should not be suffered to 
remain longer till they can be conveyed away. 

Several miles farther along the Old Lancaster Road, 
near the corner of Ithan Road, is another inn of the 
early days where Washington stopped more than once. 
This is the Sorrel Horse, now occupied as a residence 
by George H. McFadden. On the bridge over a small 
stream east of the house is a tablet bearing this mes- 
sage: 

During the encampment at Valley Forge in the 
darkest days of the revolution, the near-by stone 
dwelling, then the Sorrel Horse Inn, with warm and 
patriotic welcome sheltered often as its guests Wash- 
ington and Lafayette. 

The name of this tavern was frequently spoken in 
a toast that was popular with the traveler in the days 
of the Conestoga wagon: 

Here is to the Sorrel Horse that Kicked the Uni- 
corn that Made the Eagle fly; that Scared the Lambs 
from under the Stage, for drinking the Spring-house 
dry; that drove the Blue Bell into the Black Bear, and 
chased General Jackson all the way to Paoli. 

The ten taverns listed in the toast were passed in 
the order named by the wagoners bound west. 

In 1787 William Hamilton wrote from the Sorrel 
Horse: 

132 



2 s 






w .. 




'01. 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

In all the times and seasons I have travelled this 
Road I never found it so bad as at present. From 
Jesse George's Hill to this place I could not once get 
into a trot, but could not compare it to anything but 
being chin deep in Hasty pudding & obliged to trudge 
thro it. The Hills its true are not so slushy but are 
worn into lopsided ruts so as to be scarcely passable. 

Beyond the Sorrel Horse, is Radnor Meeting, whose 
date stone shows that the oldest portion of the build- 
ing was erected in 1718. The great sycamore tree, by 
the side of the horse sheds, perhaps twenty feet in cir- 
cumference, is a landmark to be remembered. 

A traveler has told of the large crowds that attended 
these meetings in the early days: 

On coming out of the house after the breaking up 
of the meeting, I was surprised at the great number of 
horses and carriages standing on the ground before 
the meeting-house. The space they occupied consisted 
of several acres, and from the best judgment I was 
able to pass, there were nearly 200 carriages of differ- 
ent descriptions, mostly on springs and more than 
double that number of horses, exclusive of those used 
in the carriages. The trifling expense at which horses 
and carriages are kept in the countrj^ parts of America, 
enables even those in slender circumstances to keep 
them. 

Beyond Ithan Station the Old Lancaster Road 
crosses Church Road, which leads to St. David's church, 
built in 1715, perhaps the most famous of all the old 
chu' jhes, in the vicinity of Philadelphia. This build- 
ing was long a mere shell. The people in the pews 
could look up to the bare rafters which bore the marks 

of the woodsman's ax. For fifty years there were no 

133 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

floors; men and women were glad to stand on the bare 
ground. 

Of this church Longfellow wrote: 

What an image of peace and rest 

Is the little church among its graves! 
All is so quiet; the troubled breast, 
The wounded spirit, the heart oppressed, 
Here may find the repose it craves. 

See, how the ivy climbs and expands 

Over this humble hermitage, 
And seems to caress with its little hands 
The rough, gray stones, as a child that stands. 

Caressing the wrinkled cheeks of age. 

Cross the threshold; and dim and small 

Is the space that serves for the Shepherd's Fold; 
The narrow aisle, the bare, white wall. 
The pews, and the pulpit quaint and tall. 
Whisper and say, "Alas, we are old!" 

One of the early pastors of St. David's was Griffith 
Hughes. On September 10, 1735, he wrote for per- 
mission to go to England to reprint Welsh books for 
his countrymen in America. In this letter he spoke 
of his need of a change, and the reason: 

Lately on my way to perquihoma Church I had 
the misfortune to break my kneepan, which continues 
tho upon the mending very weak so that it is impossi- 
ble, for me in my present Condition to serve the Church 
in a Regular order the present writing that and sev- 
erall other hardshipps which I have with pleasure 
almost endured on my several Journeys to preach 
among the Back Inhabitants hath very much Impaired 
my health being often obliged in the day to want the 
134 




THE OLD KACLE SCHOOL AT STHA I'KOIU) 




ST. DAVTD's church, RADNOR, 1715 




WAYNEbBOROUGH, NEAR PAOLI, 1721 
The birthplace of General Anthony Wayne 





WAYNESBOROUGH, REAR VIEW 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

Common necessities of life, and in the night to be Con- 
tented the shade of a Large tree for a Lodging. As 
for my Congregation at Radnor it is in a very flour- 
ishing Condition. 

A short distance from St. David's Church is Straf- 
ford, where the Valley Road, which dates from 1705, 
touches the turnpike. Beyond the railway station, on 
this road, is the Eagle School which MacMasters says 
was, at the time of the erection of the building, in 1788, 
one of the very few rural schools in the United States. 
Here, in 1794, Andrew Garden, who had been a fifer 
in the Revolutionary War, was teacher. Evidently 
an earlier building was used for eighteen years, since 
the school was established in 1767. The building now 
on the ground was used for school purposes until 1872. 
The property was neglected until 1895, when residents 
of Strafford went into court and asked for the appoint- 
ment of trustees to administer the property in accord- 
ance with the terms of the original gift. There were 
no documents to establish the trust, but the Court 
decided, on purely traditionary evidence, that the 
property should be administered forever for the pub- 
lic benefit. It has been said that this is the only 
instance in the United States where the character of 
such a public trust was successfully established on 
such evidence. 

The trustees appointed by the court removed the 
plaster from the walls, repointed the stone, added the 
colonial entrance, restored the burial ground, erected 
a monument to Revolutionary soldiers ("Not famous 
but faithful") brought about the removal to the pres- 

135 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

ent route, of the road which bisected the property, 
and opened the building as a pubHc Hbrary and read- 
ing room, and for small religious and educational gath- 
erings. 

There was at one time an old church on the prop- 
erty, but the burying ground, in which the oldest stone 
is dated 1777, is the sole reminder of this use of the hill- 
side. 

One of the most curious inscriptions reads: 

In Memor of 
Rosannah Akins 
wif of James Akins 

was Born January the 
17th 1757 and Departed 
This Life July The 10th 
1818 Aged 61 years 
5 months. 

i choose they path of 
Heavenly Truth and 
Gloryed in my choice Not 
All they pleasures of the 
Earth Could make me so 

Rejoice 
And Seetly Tastes TJnmeingled 
Love and Joy without a 
Tear a Bove. 

On a neighboring stone is a rebuke of such weird 
poetry : 

In Memory of Margaret 
Workizer, Consort of Christian 
Workizer, who departed this 
life February the 4th 1805 in 
the 55th year of her age. 
136 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

Verses on tombstones 

are but idly spent 
The living character 

is the monument. 

Not far from Strafford, along the Sugartown Road, 
is Waynesborough, the birthplace of General Anthony 
Wayne, Revolutionary hero. The main part of this 
mansion stands practically unchanged, even to the 
curiously crooked hood above the entrance door. The 
owner of the property, W. M. Wayne, naturally does 
not look with favor on proposals to change this his- 
toric feature of the house. 

Captain Wayne, grandfather of "Mad Anthony," 
came to America in 1722 and built Waynesborough 
in 1724. His son, who was a member of the Provin- 
cial Assembly, enlarged the house in 1765. A wing 
was added in 1812. 

In the room to the right of the entrance hall Gen- 
eral Wayne spent much of his time. Nothing here 
has been disturbed. The old high-backed horse-hair 
furniture, the ancient fireplace, the spindle-legged 
table, the faded carpet, are exactly the same as when 
General Wayne last saw them, and as they were seen 
by General Lafayette when he visited America in 
1824. Above the mantel is a portrait of the General 
by a French artist, and above this are the General's 
pistols. 

One of the finest box bushes in the country is on 
the grounds. One story is that "Mad Anthony" hid 
here when British soldiers searched the house for him; 
another version is that the soldiers penetrated the 
^ 137 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

bush with their bayonets, fearing that he might be 
lurking there. 

Fixed to the front wall of the house is a tablet 
which reads: 

The Home of General Anthony Wayne. 

Born in this House, January 1, 1745. 

Died at Erie, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1796. 

A Leader of the American Revolution in 

Pennsylvania and a soldier distinguished 

for his 

Services at Brandywine, Germantown, 

Valley Forge, 

Monmouth, Stony Point, and Yorktown. 

Subdued the Indians of Ohio, 1794. 

Commander-in-Chief of the 

United States Army 1792-1796. 

Marked by the Chester County Historical 
Society. 

On the occasion of the unveiling of this tablet ex- 
Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker paid the foUowing 
tribute to the hero: 

General Wayne was, without a doubt, one of the 
greatest generals and soldiers ever produced by this 
country. He early saw the futility of fighting the 
Britons, with their superior numbers and equipment, 
in the open. Strategy was the keynote to the success 
of Mad Anthony. He took advantage of the natural 
conditions afforded by the country in which he was 
fighting. Midnight attacks, ambuscades and the cut- 
ting off of detached parties of the enemy were methods 
favored by him. 

These methods were successful, and the efforts of 
Mad Anthony and his men did much toward securing 
the freedom of this country. The very daring of some 
138 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

of the attacks made by this man and his small group 
of untrained soldiers was their best defense. The 
enemy was invariably surprised and unable to offer 
a successful resistance. These acts gained for him the 
sobriquet of Mad Anthony Wayne, a name to inspire 
fear in the hearts of the invaders. His patriotism and 
devotion to duty are fit models for any American to 
shape his life after. 

Two miles from the home of the Revolutionary 
hero is the scene of one of the greatest disasters suffered 
by him. On the night of September 20, 1777, at a 
point half a mile southwest of Malvern, the British 
surprised the forces under General Wayne. It is said 
that somehow they learned the American watchword, 
*'Here we are, and there they go." The exhausted 
soldiers were roused by the cry, "Up, run, the British 
are on you." Eighty Americans were killed. The 
battle has been called the Paoli Massacre because, it 
was said, the wounded and the sick were killed, and 
because soldiers were bayoneted after they had ceased 
to resist. There were those who said that General 
Wayne might have prevented the disaster by prompt 
action. Accordingly he asked for an official inquiry. 
A courtmartial held after the Battle of Germantown, 
acquitted him "with the highest honor." 

The site of the Paoli Massacre, as it has always 
been known, was marked by a pile of stones until 
1817. The monument built then was almost destroyed 
by relic hunters, and on the centennial anniversary 
of the disaster the present monument was dedicated. 
This may be reached from Waynesborough, or, if pre- 
ferred, from Malvern by going out Monument Avenue. 

/ 139 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

General Wayne is buried in St. David's church- 
yard, where a monument stands above his grave. 

Malvern is at the summit of the grade from Phila- 
delphia, the roadbed of the Pennsylvania Railroad at 
this point being five hundred and forty-five feet above 
sea level. For many miles along the turnpike the view 
across the Chester Valley is wonderfully beautiful. 

Near the twentieth milestone, at the foot of Valley 
Hill, where the turnpike makes a turn to the right, 
is the General Wayne Tavern, long one of the chief 
houses of entertainment along the road. Here many 
famous travelers stopped over night. One of these was 
Thomas Pownall, who wrote in 1759: 

This is a narrow valley, but a most pleasing land- 
scape; a little brook runs through it, which falls into 
the Schuylkill at Swedes-ford. The valley, fully set- 
tled and cultivated, every farmer has a lime-kiln for 
manure, or dressing to his land; they raise chiefly 
wheat — The farm houses all with sash-windows, and 
busked up on each side with peach and apple orchards, 
and surrounded on all sides with everything that looks 
like a man's own business being done here. The farms 
are such as yeomanry, not tenants, dwell in. 

The tavern was first opened in a more primitive 
building before 1745. The present building was erected 
after the Revolution, and was rebuilt after a fire in 
1831. Originally it was called the Admiral Vernon. 
The name was soon changed to the Admiral Warren, 
but after the Revolution the name was changed a 
second time, this time to General Warren, in honor 
of an American hero, instead of a British seaman. 
The property came into the hands of Hon. John Penn, 

140 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

of Philadelphia, in 1776, after the death of a landlord 
who directed in his will that "my messuage and ten- 
niment, commonly Called by the name of Warren 
Tavern," should be sold for the payment of his debts. 

During the Revolutionary War the property was 
leased to Peter Mather, a Tory, It was said that the 
Warren was the meeting place for Tories, that British 
spies were received here, and that information as to 
the movements of the Continental Army was sent to 
the British. Major Andre, while a paroled prisoner 
from Lancaster, visited the inn and made a map of the 
country. It is said that he suggested the capture of 
Philadelphia by way of the Great Valley, the plan 
adopted by Howe and Comwallis in 1777. On the 
night of September 20 Major Andre was with the 
party that came down the Swedesford road, stopped 
at the Warren, and then moved on to attack Wayne's 
men at Paoli. 

After the action the landlord, Mather, was charged 
with having led the British to Paoli, but this he denied. 
That the people of the neighborhood did not believe 
him, however, was shown by their later avoidance of 
the tavern and its proprietor. From that day he did 
not prosper. "God frowned on him," was the popu- 
lar explanation. From innkeeper he became a dray- 
man. In later years he made his living by pushing 
a handcart. When the boys saw him on the street 
they were accustomed to jeer at him. "Here we are 
and there they go!" and "Remember Paoli!" they 
would cry. 

When the removal of the county seat of Chester 

/ 141 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

County from Chester was under discussion, there was 
an effort to make the Warren Tavern the new county- 
seat, but the bad name of the property because of 
Mather's Tory acts, and reluctance to allow any of the 
Penn family to secure a fresh hold in public life, de- 
feated the project. 

In 1786 there appeared at the Warren a dusty 
traveler who wore a long coat of homespun, secured 
by hooks and eyes, a broad brimmed hat, cowhide 
boots, and baggy trousers, which attracted attention 
because most people wore knee breeches. Mather 
would not admit/ him; he took him for a beggar. But 
the man walked on to Philadelphia, saw John Penn, 
bought the inn and three hundred and thirty-seven 
acres of land for two thousand pounds, then returned 
to the Warren with a bill of sale in his saddlebags. 
This time he was admitted. 

Under the new proprietor, Gideon Fahnestock of 
Ephrata, the prosperity of the tavern was renewed, 
for it became the resort of all Germans who passed 
that way. The wagoners called the house "the Dutch 
tavern." They liked the fare provided there, but they 
did not like the principles of the proprietor, who refused 
to sell liquor on the Sabbath, the seventh day. They 
liked still less the stand taken by Gideon's son and 
successor, who changed the name to Warren Temper- 
ance Hotel, and on Sunday reversed his sign so that 
the message might be read, "Nothing Sold on the 
Sabbath." This early advocate of temperance was a 
member of the Great Valley Presbyterian church, 
located on the turnpike some distance from the tavern, 

142 




THE EAST CALX MEETING HOUSE, NEAR EAST DOWNECGTOWN 




THE GENEKAL WARREN TA\ ERN, NEAR THE TWENTIETH MILESTONE 




A RESIDENCE IN EAST DOWNINGTOWN 




mi 

! 



THE OLDEST HOUSE IN EAST DOWNINGTOWN 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

which was built on ground given by the father of Caleb 
Parry, landlord of the Warren in 1767. 

Five miles beyond the Warren are three old inns, 
within a mile, the Sheaf of Wheat, the Ship Tavern, 
and the Exton. The original Ship was one mile west 
of Downingtown, but when the turnpike was built 
the present house was erected, and the old signboard, 
which pictured a ship under full sail, was transferred 
to the new location. This signboard was marked by 
many bullets, fired by those who did not like the Tory 
sentiments of the proprietor of the old Ship. The 
house is now a private residence. 

The twenty-fifth milestone is set against the wall 
by the barn beyond the Ship. This is one of the stones 
found and relocated in 1907 by the Colonial Dames. 
The work was done under the direction of Miss Susan 
Carpenter Frazer of Lancaster. She adopted an ingen- 
ious method of search and determining the proper 
distance between stones. She would tie a white 
streamer to the tread and one spoke of a wheel, and 
then count four hundred and seventy revolutions. 
Sometimes a milestone was found at the place indi- 
cated by the completed revolutions. Sometimes on 
digging by the roadside. Miss Frazer uncovered a 
stone. One stone was found six hundred yards from 
the proper place, leaning against a barn. Another was 
discovered in use as a doorstep of a house by the road- 
side. 

East Cain Meeting is in the edge of Downingtown. 
The old Downing's Tavern, which gave the name to 
the town, is at the junction of the Lionville Road, while 
/ 143 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the Swan Tavern, another historic house, is in the 
business center of East Downingtown. A few rods far- 
ther on, is an ancient log cabin, thought to be the old- 
est relic in the neighborhood. 

Beyond Downingtown, near the fortieth milestone, 
James Annesley, the hero of Charles Reade's novel, 
"The Wandering Heir," had many of his startling 
adventures. Annesley, who was heir to the estate 
and title of Lord Altham in Ireland, was by his uncle 
spirited away from that country when thirteen years 
of age, and sent to America. He landed in Philadel- 
phia in 1728 and was sold as a " redemptioner " to a 
farmer. He ran away from his Master, was captured, 
imprisoned and returned to servitude. After he had 
served twelve years, two Irishmen, traveling along 
the Lancaster road, stopped at the house where the 
missing heir was in service. In conversation with the 
young man they learned that he came from Dumain, 
County Wexford, Ireland, their own town, and they 
were convinced that he was the son and heir of Lord 
Altham. When he had been taken back to England 
they testified at the trial of the celebrated case of the 
claimant, and had the gratification of seeing him propn 
erly recognized. 

This section of the road in later days saw many 
other men, as well as women and children, who were 
escaping from servitude, for this entire region, from 
West Chester to Downingtown and on to Lancaster, 
was a part of the route of the Underground Railway. 
Along the road were stations where the fugitives were 
hidden and from which they were passed on to the 

144 



ON THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE 

next station. At Bird-in-hand, a station was kept by 
David Gibbons. Historians of the Underground Rail- 
way say that, of the twelve hundred or more slaves 
assisted by him from 1797 to 1853, but one or two 
were taken from his house. 

One day a man came to the farm, saying that he 
wanted to buy a horse. But Mr. Gibbons was sus- 
picious, for he saw him eying a negro who was work- 
ing about the place. Immediately after the man 
departed the negro was sent away. Next day came a 
constable from Lancaster in search of the slave, but 
he was compelled to return without his prey. 

At another time slave hunters came in search of a 
slave who was in the house at the time. Mr. Gibbons 
detained them by talking and asking questions. Mrs. 
Gibbons took the fugitive out the back door and hid 
her under an inverted rain hogshead. Then Mr. Gib- 
bons politely showed the searchers through the house. 
When they left they were satisfied that the negro was 
not there. 

Eight miles beyond Bird-in-hand is Lancaster, which 

became the capital of Pennsylvania in 1799. At that 

time the town was the largest inland settlement in the 

United States. In 1804 a petition was sent by the 

citizens to William Hamilton of Philadelphia, asking 

him if he would offer ground for the accommodation 

of the legislators. His favorable response to the request 

did much to abate the feeling against his father, 

Andrew Hamilton who, when Lancaster was founded, 

managed to divert the town from the site originally 

planned, ten miles from the present site, to his own 
10 14ii 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

estate. For many years the people groaned under the 
necessity of paying ground rents to the family. In 
1783, according to Johann Schoepf, these amounted to 
one thousand pounds a year. 

But the capital did not remain long in Lancaster. 
In 1812 it went to Harrisburg, and the importance of 
the second great section of the road from Philadelphia 
to Pittsburgh was greatly increased. 




THE KEX IIUUSE, CHESTNUT HILL 




THOMAS HOVENDEN S STUDIO AT PLYMOUTH MEETING 
Here "Breaking Home Ties" was painted 



VI 
THE GULPH ROAD 

THERE is no more picturesque road near Phila- 
delphia than the Gulph Road, branches of which 
wind in what seem an aimless manner through 
Lower Merion Township. The pedestrian, the horse- 
man or the automobile owner will enjoy a trip along 
the sections which are marked on a good road map as 
the Old Gulph Road. But the trip should be made 
in a leisurely manner that none of the points of histo- 
rical interest may be missed. 

The oldest section of the road leads out of Nar- 
berth by way of Narberth Avenue. On this section 
may be seen the ruins of several old mills dating from 
before the Revolution, notably the Dove Paper Mill, 
where the paper for Continental bank notes and other 
city government paper was made. These ruins are 
located beyond the junction with the Merion Square 
Road. From this point the Gulph meanders on for a 
number of miles, in what seems a very aimless fashion. 

The section of the road which is of greatest inter- 
est begins at a point on Montgomery Avenue about 
halfway between Ardmore and Bryn Mawr Station on 
the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. After 
passing the Bryn Mawr Hotel and Bryn Mawr College, 
the Roberts Road leads to the right. A few moments 
after leaving the Gulph an old colonial mansion will 

147 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

be seen at the end of a driveway which leads from 
Roberts Road. This is Harriton House, built in 1704 
by Rowland Ellis, who called his estate Bryn Mawr, 
after his old home in Wales. He was obliged to trans- 
port in panniers, on horses, all the sand, stone and 
other material used for the house, since there were at 
that time no road vehicles available. It is a two-story 
house, built of stone, with quaint dormer windows. 

In 1719 the house was bought by Richard Harri- 
son, together with several hundred acres of land. The 
name Harriton was bestowed by the new owner, this 
being his own name with the change of a single letter. 

From his old home in Delaware, where he had been 
a tobacco planter, Richard Harrison brought his house- 
hold goods and slaves in a sailing vessel. The vessel 
was attacked by river pirates, and the goods were 
stolen. The slaves were compelled to find their way 
overland to the estate on the Gulph Road. 

The story is told that some of these slaves soon 
afterward attempted to poison the members of the 
Harrison family, that they might be free to return to 
Delaware. One morning they put poison in the choco- 
late, and placed it on the table just before the silent 
moment which was kept by the family, after the man- 
ner of Friends. Just then there was a knock. Some 
one, rising to open the door, overturned the chocolate. 
No one would have known of the poison but for the 
pet cat, which died after licking up the chocolate. 
Frightened by the event, the guilty slaves confessed 
the crime they had attempted. 

Some of the slaves were set to work in the fields 
148 



THE GULPH ROAD 

where the lord of the manor planted tobacco. When 
the product was ready for market, he was confronted 
by two difficulties — the hills were steep, and the Gulph 
Road was otherwise unsuited to wagons, even if such 
vehicles had been available. So he adopted a plan 
popular in the South. The tobacco was packed in 
great casks, through the center of each of which a pole 
was passed. This served as an axle. To the ends of 
the axle poles were attached. These served roughly 
for shafts for a horse, which rolled and bumped the 
casks to the Philadelphia market. 

On the death of Richard Harrison in 1747 the prop- 
erty came into the possession of Hannah Harrison, 
his daughter. In 1774 she married Charles Thomson, 
friend of Benjamin Franklin, secretary of the Stamp 
Act Congress of 1765, and secretary of Congress for 
the first fourteen years of its history. History says 
that he presented to Washington the certificate of his 
election as President of the United States. But per- 
haps his greatest claim to fame is that he was known 
among the Indians with whom he dealt as "The Man 
Who Always Speaks the Truth." 

After retiring from public life, Mr. Thomson devoted 
twelve years to a translation of the Bible from the 
Septuagint. The work was done in the old dining 
room of the mansion, which he used as a library. The 
translation was published in 1808, in four volumes. 
The translator lived until 1824, to the age of ninety- 
five years. 

In his will he made known his wish to be laid in 

the Harriton family burying ground, located just across 

/ 149 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the Roberts Road, in the thick wood. This burying 
ground he had kept in view from the Hbrary, through 
a lane cut in the trees. 

The lane has disappeared, but the cemetery may 
be reached by a path that leads to the Httle stone- 
walled enclosure, on the grounds of George Vaux, Jr., 
who is a direct descendant of Richard Harrison. On 
the wall is the inscription: 

Harriton Family Cemetery 
Anno 1719 

On the inside of this stone the statement is made: 

This stone is opposite to the division between two 
rows of family graves wherein were interred Richard 
Harrison and a number of his descendants, also George 
Thomson, and Hannah Thomson, wife of Charles 
Thomson, daughter of Richard Harrison, Grand- 
daughter of Isaac Norris and great-granddaughter of 
Governor Thomas Floyd. 

One of the stones is erected in memory of Mary 
Roberts, of whom this is said: 

Having experienced the affliction of loosing an 
affectionate Husband, tender Parents, three Brothers 
and her only Sister, and being thus left the only sur- 
viving member of her Family, all Attachments to this 
world had Vanish'd and her Most earnest wish was to 
depart hence. 

It is interesting to note that the claim is not made 
that Charles Thomson lies in this plot. He was bur- 
ied here, but his body was not suffered to remain. 
When Laurel Hill Cemetery was opened in 1838, the 
Company wished the prestige that would come from 

150 



THE GULPH ROAD 

having a number of famous men buried there. The 
heirs of Charles Thomson were asked to allow the 
removal of his body. In view of his wish that he be 
buried by the side of his wife the request was refused. 
However, a nephew was found who authorized the 
removal, and one August night in 1838, under his 
direction, the agents of Laurel Hill set to work. They 
were still busy when a farm hand, on his way to the 
field, surprised them. They fled in haste, taking with 
them the body which they had recovered. Later a 
monument was erected in Laurel Hill to the memory 
of the Secretary of Congress. 

Two miles beyond Roberts Road the turnpike forks. 
The left road leads to Devon and the Lancaster Pike. 
The right road leads to Valley Forge and Phoenixville. 
At the forks the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of 
the Revolution in 1892 erected a boulder monument 
with the inscription : 

Gulph Mills. 

The Main Continental Army 

Commanded by General George Washington 

Encamped in This Immediate Vicinity 

From December 13 to December 19 

1777 ^ 

Before Going to Winter Quarters 

At Valley Forge. 

Back of the monument is Gulph Creek, which 

tumbles over a slight precipice. The sound of the fall 

can be heard from the monument. This fall furnished 

power for the old mill, built in 1741, whose ruins may 

still be seen at the left of the road, immediately after 

leaving the monument. 

/ 151 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

While his army was encamped at this point, Wash- 
ington thanked the officers and men for the patience 
and fortitude shown during the arduous campaign of 
the year about to close, and told them how necessary 
it would be that they be patient and courageous while 
in the winter quarters to which they were about to go. 
He told them plainly what they might expect, but he 
assured them that he wished he could provide better 
things for them, and asked them to remember that he 
would share their hardships with them. 

Two days after the address was made the army 
marched on to Valley Forge, but a guard was left at 
the Gulph, under the direction of Colonel Aaron Burr, 
who was then twenty-two years old. Burr's biographer 
tells an incident of his service during this winter: 

It appears that the militia stationed to guard the 
pass at the Gulph were continually sending false alarms 
to camp, which obliged the officers to get the troops 
under arms, and frequently to keep them on the alert 
all night. These alarms, it was soon found, arose from 
want of a proper system of observation and from a 
general looseness of discipline in the corps. General 
McDougall, who well knew the quality of Burr, as a 
soldier, recommended the Commander-in-Chief to give 
him the command of the post. This was done, which 
resulted in the introduction of a system of such rigor- 
ous discipline that mutiny was threatened and the 
death of the Colonel resolved upon. This came to the 
knowledge of Burr, and on the evening decided upon 
(every cartridge having first been drawn from the 
muskets) the detachments were ordered to parade. 
When in line one of the men stepped from the ranks 
and levelled his musket at him, whereupon Burr raised 
152 



THE GULPH ROAD 

his sword and struck the arm of the mutineer above the 
elbow, nearly severing it from his body. In a few 
minutes the corps was dismissed, the arm of the mu- 
tineer was the next day amputated, and no more was 
heard of the mutiny. 

Not far from the monument is a spot where the 
colonial road builders encountered a barrier — a ridge 
of the range, of volcanic origin, which stretches, at 
intervals, for about seventy miles from Maryland, 
through Chester County, and on to the Delaware. 
Gulph Creek cut its way through the lower edge of 
one of these hills, which rises with startling sudden- 
ness from the comparatively level country to a height 
of 290 feet above the creek bed. The way for the road 
had to be cut through the upheaved rock by the side 
of the creek, and the work was done in such a way that 
the road once formed, roughly, a half arch over the road- 
way. Since the road was built the rock has crumbled, 
but the overhanging roof is still there. 

It is interesting to observe the curious formation 
of the cliff, which is a mixture of a material that crum- 
bles in the fingers and rock as hard as flint. From the 
softer material may be broken off fragments some of 
which contain little garnets, too brittle to be of any 
value. 

This spot, known as the Gulph, is a favorite place 
for picnics, but it was not a favorite spot with the 
soldiers. One of them, Albigence Waldo, said in his 
diary, on Saturday, December 13, 1777: 

The Army march'd three miles from the West side 
of the River, and encamp'd near a place called the 
/ 153 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Gulph and not an improper name either. For this 
Gulph seems well adapted by its situation to keep us 
from the pleasure & enjoyments of this world, or being 
conversant with anybody in it. 

Johann Schoepf, in his "Travels in the Confeder- 
acy," told of passing Gulph Mill "at a narrow gap 
between high rocks, apparently divided apart by 
force." 

The traveler wrote of meeting wagons that were 
quite common in the days after the Revolution, loaded 
with lime, a staple of this "mountainous tract." Then 
he went on to tell of the limeburning industry, and of 
the trade in the product: 

This is commonly managed not in walled furnaces 
but in square pits, sometimes but not always lined 
with fire-proof stone. In burning the lime, for vari- 
ous reasons, dead wood or dry logs are preferred, 
rather than green, and it is estimated that 15 cords of 
wood are needed to burn 5-600 bushels of lime. The 
wood is bought on the stump, and 5 shillings Pensyl. 
Current (2-3 of a Spanish doler) the cord is regarded 
as dear. According to the price of the wood, and the 
cost of cutting and hauling, a bushel of burnt lime can 
be sold at 8 to 13 pence Pensylv. Current. Most of it 
is brought to the city, but the people of the region use a 
great deal of it on their lands. Being near a good mar- 
ket, and the land having long been worked, they find 
this means of improving their fields very convenient. 

This garrulous German traveler became acquainted 
with the people along the road as well as with their 
occupation. He noted that those who live "in and 
along these hills seem not to be the most prosperous 
and their dwellings are not the best. But," he added, 
154 



THE GULPH ROAD 

"they are not forgotten in the tax levies; an ordinary 
house, e.g., with 100 acres of land, paid this year 20 Pd. 
Pennsylv. Current. The owner, a farmer, would there- 
fore rather live somewhere else, but he expressed a 
singular dislike for the famed county on the Ohio," 
because in Kentucky there is no real winter, and where 
there is no winter, people would have to work year in 
and year out ! 

Once he stopped for refreshments at a farm house 
where he was told by the wife who ministered to him 
"how her husband, during the war had, by a wise use 
of his post in the Land Office, got to himself a hand- 
some estate, seven plantations, and could now laugh 
at the world." He had made his purchases with paper 
money, playing on the credulity of his patriotic fellow 
countrymen. 

Of course there were men of this stamp, but as a 
rule the people along the Gulph Road were in hearty 
sympathy with the brave defenders of their country, 
whom they watched as they marched the seven miles 
from Gulph Mills to their encampment at Valley Forge, 
most of them without shoes and stockings, and all of 
them suffering from cold and exposure. 

George Washington Parke Custis, in his "Recol- 
lections and Private Memoirs of Washington," told 
graphically of the hardships of the troops: 

The winter of 1777 set in early, and with unusual 
severity. The military operations of both armies had 
ceased, when a detachment of the Southern troops 
were seen plodding their weary way to winter quarters 
at Valley Forge. The appearance of the horse-guard 
/ 155 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

announced the approach of the Commander-in-Chief: 
the officer commanding the detachment, choosing the 
most favorable ground, paraded his men to pay to 
their General the honors of the passing salute. As 
Washington rode slowly up, he was observed to be 
eying very earnestly something that attracted his 
attention on the frozen surface of the road. Having 
returned the salute, with that native grace, that dig- 
nified air and manner, that won the admiration of the 
soldiery of the old Revolutionary days, the Chief 
reigned up his charger, and ordering the commanding 
officer of the detachment to his side, addressed him 
as follows: "How comes it, sir, that I have tracked 
the march of your troops by the blood stains of their 
feet upon the frozen ground.'^ Were there no shoes in 
the Commissary's stores, that this sad spectacle is to 
be seen along the public highways.'^" The officer 
replied: "Your Excellency may rest assured that this 
sight is as painful to my feelings as it can be to yours; 
but there is no remedy within our reach. When the 
shoes were issued, the different regiments were served, 
and the stores became exhausted before we could 
obtain even the smallest supply!" 

The General was observed to be deeply affected by 
his officer's description of the soldiers' privations and 
sufferings. His compressed lips, the heaving of his 
manly chest, betokened the powerful emotions that 
were struggling in his bosom, when, turning toward 
the troops with a voice tremulous yet kindly, Wash- 
ington exclaimed, "poor fellows"; then giving rein to 
his charger rode away. 

In this interesting event in the life and actions of 
Washington he appears in a new light. He is no longer 
the grave, the dignified, the awe-inspiring and unap- 
proachable General-in-Chief of the armies of his coun- 
try. All these characteristics have vanished, and 
156 



THE GULPH ROAD 

Pater Patriae appears amid his companions in arms in 
all his moral grandeur, giving vent to his native good- 
ness of heart. 

It is not difficult to close the eyes and reconstruct 
the scene as the sturdy Continentals passed this way. 
The road is far smoother than it was then, but the 
sound of the water falling over the rocks is the same, 
and there is still the sound of whirring machinery, for 
instead of the old Gulph Mill, there is the Montgom- 
ery Worsted Mill, located on the bank of the creek a 
short distance beyond the Gulph. 

The old house by the side of the Philadelphia and 
Western embankment, also on the left, should have 
attention. This house, built in 1803, was the manor 
house on the large Macfarland estate to which belonged 
much of the land in the neighborhood. The fine door- 
way and stairway will repay examination. The orig- 
inal floors are still in use. 

"Gulph" is the name called by trainmen on the 
Philadelphia and Western Railroad as they reach the 
station near the mills, though Ballygomingo was the 
name given by som« early settler; perhaps after a spot 
in Wales to which his thoughts turned often. This 
name was later shortened to Balligo. 

The Gulph station offers a convenience to those 
who wish to pass over the Gulph Road on foot. The 
trip from Bryn Mawr to Valley Forge and Phoenix- 
ville is too long for a single outing, but the pedestrian 
might take the train at Sixty-ninth and Market Streets, 
alight at Gulph station, and walk the four miles to 
Bryn Mawr. Another day the longer walk might be 
/ 157 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

taken to Valley Forge, with car from the village to 
Phoenixville, thus completing this important section 
of the road. 

;'A short distance after passing under the railroad 
the turnpike crosses the creek on what is called the 
Foederal bridge, whose story is told on a stone built 
into the left parapet: 

Montgomery 

County 

Upper Merion 

Township. 

1789. 

In the 2nd year the 

Foederal Union. 

Beyond the bridge, is the Bird in Hand Inn. The 
old appearance of the building and the swinging sign 
board leads one to think that this is the original inn 
of the name seen by Washington and his men. But 
it is a comparatively modem hotel. The historic Bird 
in Hand is a little farther along the road, which takes 
a sharp turn to the left after crossing the bridge. 

On the hill back of the new Bird in Hand, on the 
road leading to Conshohocken, is Poplar Lane, once 
the home of Isaac Hughes, Lieutenant Colonel of the 
Flying Camp of the Pennsylvania militia. Half a 
mile to the left, along the Norristown road, is the site 
of the house built on Walnut Grove Farm by John 
Hughes, father of Isaac Hughes, who came to America 
in search of his son Hugh, after he had run away from 
the parental home in Wales, in 1680. 

Hugh Hughes became a tanner in Philadelphia, 

158 




THE KING OF PRUSSIA TAVERN 




HARRITON HOUSE, NEAR BRYN MAWR, 1704 



THE GULPH ROAD 

but he moved later to Walnut Grove, which came into 
his possession on his father's death. John Hughes, 
the stamp officer of colonial days in Pennsylvania, 
was the next owner of Walnut Grove, and when 
his son, Isaac Hughes, was married, he lived with his 
parents on the old farm. He was master of the house 
when Washington and members of his suite paid fre- 
quent visits to the place. 

Later Isaac Hughes moved to Poplar Lane. Until 
recently it was thought that the oldest portion of the 
house was built in 1769, but not long ago the present 
owner, P. R. Varian, on opening a great fireplace, dis- 
covered the date 1758 plainly lettered on the fireback. 

From the Hughes family Poplar Lane passed to 
the possession of George Nugent, a Philadelphia mer- 
chant, who had retired with a fortune after trading 
for years in the West Indies. Mr. Nugent had two 
hobbies, his farm, where he tried advanced methods of 
cultivation that made his neighbors jeer, and his chil- 
dren, for whose education he founded a school. The 
buildings are still standing, back of Poplar Lane, on 
the Conshohocken road. There are two of them, a 
residence for his son, who was the proprietor of a woolen 
mill in the valley, as well as for the master of the 
school, and the seminary, a large structure of unusual 
architecture, whose walls are two and one-half feet 
thick. The most prominent features to the observer 
from the road are the seven fan-like windows in the 
end wall, two for each of the main rooms, and one for 
the attic room, in which the boys had their dormitory. 

Mr. Nugent was not a selfish man; he freely opened 
/ 159 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the Collegiate Institute, as he called it, to the children 
of the neighbors who made sport of his advanced experi- 
ments in farming. 

After a season of prosperity the Institute was 
closed, and the building became the home of the Acad- 
emy of Natural Science. In recent years, when the 
Philadelphia and Western Railroad was under con- 
struction, it was the home of a gang of Italian laborers. 
The present owner of Poplar Lane bought it that he 
might keep away undesirable tenants. 

Another house whose last inhabitants were labor- 
ers on the railroad is on the Gulph Road, a short dis- 
tance up the hill, beyond the old Bird in Hand. This 
stone building is rapidly falling in ruins. A peep within 
the sagging door is repaid by a glimpse of a curious 
old oven built into the fireplace. Beyond the fireplace 
is a cramped stairway that is not much better than a 
ladder. 

"What a foolish man the builder was!" a visitor 
to the house exclaimed, after climbing to the third 
story. "He had all out-doors before him, yet he put 
up a cramped three-story house! How pleased his 
wife must have been!'* 

In spite of the sign-board near Hughes Corner, 
which makes quite contradictory statements as to the 
distance to the King of Prussia Tavern, it is not far 
to this famous old hostelry. There is a question as to 
the date of this building. The swinging sign is dated 
1709, though some say that 1768 is the correct date. 
Yet the title papers are dated 1718. An early keeper 
of this popular hostelry was a Prussian, to whom the 

160 



THE GULPH ROAD 

name was a reminder of his home. Most of the building 
has been remodeled, since the days when it was a 
resort of the spies of the British army who sought 
information of the movements of Washington and his 
men, but the kitchen is about as it was then. For- 
tunately the original sign was recovered from the waste 
pile in the blacksmith shop a few rods away. 

A few moments after passing the old tavern the 
graceful columns of an old house appear through the 
trees. Just enough can be seen to make one want to 
go down the private road that leads from the turnpike 
around to the front of the mansion. This house was 
built in 1820, when William Cleaver married Jane 
Thomas. Miss Thomas was born in what is now known 
as the Ashbridge house on Montgomery Avenue, just 
beyond Bryn Mawr, which dates from 1769. The new 
house was a copy of the old homestead. This is now 
the home of C. W. Bray. 

The entrance to Valley Forge Park is not far from 
the Bray homestead, and it is possible to approach this 
over a good road; but many will prefer to keep to the 
Gulph Road, even if the final stretch is rather poor. 
Otherwise they will miss an old landmark on the 
left over the ridge above Trout Creek. This house 
was occupied during a part of the period of the Valley 
Forge encampment by Brigadier General George Wee- 
don, a Virginian, who was sometimes called "Joe 
Gourd," because, as a Virginia inn-keeper, he used 
gourds in distributing liquid refreshment to his cus- 
tomers. The house, remodeled, is now the country 
home of Congressman John R. K. Scott. 
/ 11 161 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The Gulph Road entrance to the park is to the 
left of the arch erected by the United States Govern- 
ment to the memory of the officers and private soldiers 
of the Continental Army, dedicated in 1914. Inside 
the arch is the inscription: 

And here, in this place of sacrifice, in this vale of 
humiliation, in this valley of the shadow of that death 
out of which the life of America rose rejuvenate and 
free, let us believe with an abiding faith that to them 
America will seem as dear and liberty as sweet and 
progress as glorious as they were to our fathers and are 
to you and me, and that this institution which made 
us happy, preserved by the virtue of our children, 
shall bless the benevolent generations of the time to 
come. 

Thus Henry Armitt Brown spoke of the heroism 
of the defenders of their country. But they must 
have felt far from heroic on that December day when 
they entered the wood at "Wolley Forge," as the site 
of the winter camp was called by an officer at White- 
marsh when the plans were first announced. 

On December 18, the day before the site was occu- 
pied, Washington asked the regimental officers to divide 
the soldiers into groups of twelve, each of which was to 
build a hut of logs, A reward was promised to the twelve 
men of each regiment who should complete their hut 
first, and in the most workman-like manner. The 
inventive genius of officers and men was stimulated 
by the offer of one hundred dollars for the best sugges- 
tion of an effective substitute for a roof which would 
be cheaper than boards and could be applied more 
promptly. 
162 




Lr-. 




■iiiK liKAY iiorsK, \i:ah \allky fukge 

Residence of Mr. C. W. Bray 




WASHINGTON S HEADQUARTERS AT VALLEY FORGE 



'1 




Ill Is \,>i I , nicKNixviiaJB 




■MOiMCl II U I . M VK riUKMW ii.i.b; 



THE CTJLPII ROAD 

Thomas Paine, in a letter to Benjamin Franklin, 
gave a vivid picture of the scene during the days when 
the men became builders: 

I was tlu^n; when th<^ army first begnn to build 
huts. They a[)p(;ar(;d to me like n Jamily of beavers. 
Everyone busy, som(^ carrying logs, others mud, and 
the rest pl.-istering them together. The whole was 
raised in a few d.iys, ;jn<l it is a curious collection of 
buildings in the true rustic order. 

Like a good comrade, Washington lived with his 
men until they had the shelter ready. Not imtil Christ- 
mas Day did he move to the house of Isaac Potts, the 
miller. This was the day when he entered in his care- 
fully kept account book: 

To expenditure in the different and continued move- 
ments of th(i Army from Cermantown S(ipt. 15 till we 
hutted at Valley Forge, the 25th of Dec. pr. mem, 
$1,037.00 or £78, Is. 

Several days earlier Washington sent to Congress 
a letter from General Varnum, who said: 

Three days successively we have been destitute 
of brciad. Two days we have been entirely without 
meat. 

On December 23, Washington said that unless 
there was a great .'ind sudden (thange in the commis- 
sary d(^parLment, the army must inevitably be reduced 
to one or ottier of these three things: "starve, dissolve, 
or disperse in order to obtain subsistance in the best 

manner they can." 

/ 163 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

When the Assembly of Pennsylvania found fault 
with the action of taking the men into winter quarters, 
Washington wrote: 

I can assure those gentlemen, that it is a much 
easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances 
in a comfortable room by a good fireside, than to occupy 
a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, 
without clothes or blankets. However, although they 
seem to have little feeling for the naked and distressed 
soldiers, I feel superabundantly for them, and from 
my soul, I pity those miseries which it is neither in 
my power to relieve or prevent. 

General Lafayette, in his Memoirs, gave another 
telling picture of the later sufferings of the men: 

The unfortunate soldiers were in want of every 
thing; they had neither coats, hats, shirts, nor shoes; 
their feet and legs froze till they became black, and 
it was often necessary to amputate them . . , The army 
frequently remained whole days without provisions, 
and the patient endurance of both soldiers and officers 
was a miracle which each moment seemed to renew. 

Sergeant Andersen Kemp wrote to his mother: 

We have had a dreadful time of it through the 
winter at Valley Forge, sometimes for a week at a 
time with nothing but frozen potatoes and even worse 
still for clothing. Sometimes the men obliged to sleep 
by turns for want of blankets to cover the whole, and 
the rest keeping watch by the fire. There is hardly a 
man who has not been frostbitten. . . . But our distress 
for want of food was nothing compared to the grum- 
bling of some of the men, and, I am sorry to say, of 
some of the officers. 
164 



THE GULPH ROAD 

Surgeon Waldo told thus of a midnight feast: 

At 12 of the clock Providence sent us a little mut- 
ton with which we immediately had some Broth made 
& a fine Stomach for same. Ye who eat Pumpkin Pie 
and Roast Turkies and yet Curse Fortune for using 
you ill, Curse her no more lest she reduce your Allow- 
ance of her favours to a bit of Fire Cake & a draught 
of Cold Water & in Cold Weather too. 

On March 1, 1778, General Weedon indicated in 
his Orderly Book that conditions were improving. 
After the manner of the true optimist he made the best 
of privation, made excuses for the failure of provisions 
and looked forward to better things: 

Thank Heaven, our Country abounds with pro- 
visions and with prudent management we need not 
apprehend want for any length of time. Defects in 
the Commissarie Department, Contingencies of Wea- 
ther and other Temporary Impedements have sub- 
jected and may again subject us to deficiency for a few 
days. But Soldiers, American Soldiers will despise 
the manners of Repining at Such trifling strockes of 
Adversity, Trifling indeed when compared with the 
Transcendent prize which will undoubtedly crown their 
patience and perseverance. 

The brightest day of the six months* encampment 
was May 7, 1778, when the soldiers rejoiced because 
of the treaty of Alliance between France and the United 
States. This event gave them courage for the move- 
ment undertaken on June 18, the day the British evac- 
uated Philadelphia, when the camp was gladly left 

behind. 

165 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The story of that winter has been told effectively, 
in verse, by Thomas Buchanan Read. After speaking 
of the hardships of which General Weedon made light, 
he said: 

Such was the winter's awful sight 
For many a dreary day and night. 
What time our country's hope forlorn. 
Of every needed comfort shorn. 
Lay housed within a hurried tent, 
Where every keen blast found a rent. 
And oft the snow was seen to sift 
Along the floor its piling drift. 
Or, mocking the scant blankets' fold, 
Across the night couch frequent rolled. 
Where every path by a soldier beat. 
Or every track where a sentinel stood. 
Still held the print of naked feet, 
And oft the crimson stain of blood: 
Where Famine held her spectral court, 
And joined by all her fierce allies: 
She ever loved a camp or fort 
Beleaguered by the wintry sides, — 
But chiefly when Disease is by, 
To sink the frame and dim the eye. 
Until, with seeking forehead bent, 
In martial garments cold and damp. 
Pale Death patrols from tent to tent. 
To count the charnels of the camp. 

Gulph Road leads across the park, past the Letitia 
Penn schoolhouse, and past the woods which, it is 
said, were the scene of an incident related by Benson 
J. Lossing: 

Mr. Potts the Quaker relates that one day while 
the Americans were encamped at Valley Forge, he 

166 



THE GULPH ROAD 

strolled up the creek, and when not far from the dam, 
heard a solemn voice. He walked quickly in the direc- 
tion of it, and saw Washington's horse tied to a sapling. 
In a thicket near by was the beloved chief upon his 
knees in prayer, his face suffused with tears. Like 
Moses at the bush, Isaac felt that he was on holy 
ground, and withdrew unobserved. 

After crossing the creek, the road leads directly to 
Phoenixville, three miles distant. The oldest house 
by the way is Moore Hall, on a hill beyond the water- 
works, immediately after crossing Pickering Creek, 

William Moore, the owner of the estate at the time 
of the Revolution, was born in Philadelphia on May 
6, 1699. Twenty years later he graduated at Oxford. 
His father, who was Collector of the Port of Philadel- 
phia, gave him 240 acres on Pickering Creek. When the 
land came into his possession there were on it a house, 
a stable and a sawmill. This sawmill was a source 
of wonder to the Indians, who liked to come and 
look and listen. 

Perhaps it was one of these very Indians who once 
visited the shop of a smith near Valley Forge, showing 
a gun which needed repairs. The blacksmith was 
unable to help him, for his supply of fuel was exhausted. 
The Indian took a basket, hurried away and came 
back after a while with a quantity of coal which 
he insisted would make a fine fire. The fire was re- 
plenished and the gun was repaired, but he refused 
to tell where he had found the " black stones." 
Evidently the Indian knew of a supply of coal in 
the neighborhood, but its location has never been 

bund. 

167 



; 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The house on the new propertj'^ did not answer 
the needs of William Moore, who longed to entertain 
plenty of company. So he built a house which, a few 
years later, was succeeded by a mansion that became 
famous throughout all the region, not only for its own 
sake, but because in it was shown a hospitality remark- 
able even among the open-handed colonists. 

The owner of the mansion had many slaves, whom 
he quartered in a stone house near Moore Hall. Some 
of these slaves persisted in running away, as appears 
from advertisements in the Philadelphia papers of the 
period. In the Fennsylvania Gazette of August 10, 
1730, this notice was inserted: 

Ran away from William Moor of Moore Hall, in 
Chester County, a likely young negro man, named 
Jack. Speal^ but indifferent English, and had on, 
when he went away, a new Isenburg shirt, a pair of 
striped breeches, a striped ticking waistcoat and an 
old Dimity coat of his master's with buttons of horse 
teeth set in brass and cloth sleeves, and a felt hat, 
almost new. Whoever secures said negro and brings 
him to his master, or to John Moore, Esq. Philadel- 
phia, shall receive 20 shillings and reasonable charge. 

William Moore. 

Mr. Moore was prominent both in Church and 
State. He was at different times a vestryman in St. 
James Episcopal Church on the Perkiomen and of St. 
David's Church at Radnor. He was colonel of the 
Chester County militia, organized for defense against 
the Indians, he was a member of the Assembly from 
1733 to 1740, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace 
168 



THE GULPH ROAD 

in 1740. He was a good official, but he made enemies 
who were not slow to make charges against him, when 
they saw a good chance to hurt him. 

Their opportunity came when he was out of favor 
with the Assembly. The majority of the members of 
the Assembly were Friends, opposed to war, but he 
insisted that means be taken for preparation against 
a threatened Indian attack. Once he wrote to the 
Assembly that two thousand men were coming down 
to Philadelphia from Chester County to compel the 
passage of the militia law. 

Just at this time came to the Assembly a complaint 
from Chester County, declaring that Squire Moore 
had been guilty of tyranny and injustice. He defended 
himself in a paper printed in Franklin's Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette. Provost Smith of the University of 
Pennsylvania helped him secure a German trans- 
lation, that the defense might be published in Ger- 
man also. 

But the Assembly did not like the statement made 
in this defense that their readiness to listen to the 
charge was scandalous. A warrant was issued for his 
arrest, and two men were sent to Moore Hall. In Jan- 
uary, 1758, he was arrested and taken to jail in Phila- 
delphia. Provost Smith was arrested at the same time. 
Moore's defense was burned by the hangman, and no 
attention was paid to habeas corpus proceedings. The 
Provost was compelled to hear his classes in the jail. 
Both men were released at the close of the session of 
the Assembly, but they were Hable to arrest as soon 
as the Assembly met again. 
/ 169 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The Provost went to England at once, arriving 
January 1, 1759, and related the facts to the author- 
ities. When he returned the Assembly, convened by 
the Privy Council, was compelled to listen to a rebuke 
given by Governor Hamilton. 

The Committee of Congress appointed to investi- 
gate the condition of the army at Valley Forge made 
their headquarters at Moore Hall. They remained 
three months, and decided that Washington was the 
best man in the country for the head of the army. 

Washington was himself a frequent visitor at Moore 
Hall, though the tradition that he once went there on a 
fishing expedition is erroneous. 

On July 30, 1787, he wrote in his diary: 

In company with M'Gov' [Gouverneur] Morris, and 
in his Phaeton with grey horses, went up to one Jane 
Moore's in the vicinity of Valley Forge to get Trout. 

By mistake the Pennsylvania Backet of August 1, 
1787, said: 

Monday his Excellency General Washington was set 
out for Moore Hall in order to visit his old quarters at 
the Valley Forge in this State. 

On July 31 Washington wrote: 

Whilst M^ Morris was fishing I rid over the old Can- 
tonment of the American [Army] of the Winter 1777 & 
8 — visited all the Works w"** were in Ruins; and the 
Incampments in woods where the ground had not 
been cultivated. On my return to M" Moore's I found 
M"" Robert Morris & his lady there. 

William Moore died May 30, 1782, and was buried 

in St. David's churchyard at Radnor. His body lies 
170 



THE GULPH ROAD 

directly in front of the door of the old church. By his 
side is his wife, who inherited his property because, 
as he said in his will, she was "never frightend by 
the rude rabble or Dismaied by the Insolent threats 
of the ruling powers. Happy Woman, a Pattern to 
her Sex, and worthy the Relationship she bore to 
the Right Honourable and Noble family from which 
she sprung." 

Perhaps a mile from Moore Hall, on the edge of 
Phoenixville, is The Knoll, once the seat of the Morris 
family. Later it became the property of Charles 
Wheatley, an Englishman who married into the family. 
He was interested in metallurgy, and he was delighted 
when he found a vein of copper on his property. A 
deep shaft was dug on his land. This was long ago 
filled up. 

Fountain Inn, in Ph(snixville, was at one time the 
headquarters of General Howe. In front of the inn, 
by the side of the car tracks, is a marker on which is 
this record : 

The Farthest Inland Point Reached in the British 
Invasion of the Northern Colonies during the Revolu- 
tionary War, September 21-23, 1777. 

Not far away is the old General Pike Hotel, built 
in 1807, and directly across the road is the Jones Man- 
sion, built by John Longstreth. During the British 
invasion the Hessians came to the house and took all 
the geese, straw and everything else they could lay 
hands on. His daughter Sarah married Robert Jones, 
and they lived in the old house during the years before 

the Civil War. 

/ 171 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Phoenixville was on the route of the Underground 
Railway on which so many slaves found their way to 
freedom in Canada. There were four stations in the 
neighborhood of the town, and of these the Jones Man- 
sion was one. Visitors to the house are shown a wood 
closet in the chimney where the slaves were hidden 
during the day. Once a father and mother and their 
baby were crowded in these narrow quarters when the 
searchers came to the house after them. The baby 
cried, and Mrs. Jones was in an agony. But the hid- 
ing place was not discovered, and that night the slaves 
were sent on their way. 

A second station was kept by Elijah F. Penny- 
packer at the Corner Stores. Li the History of the 
Underground Railway it is said that he did a thriving 
business. He "kept a large two-horse dearborn, in 
which he took loads of fugitives by day and by night. 
If they reached his house in the night, and there was 
urgency to proceed, they were taken on without delay. 
In case they were taken in daytime, the women and 
children were placed in the rear end of the wagon, the 
children covered up, and the women disguised by wear- 
ing veils. The men walked singly so as not to excite 
suspicion." 



172 



VII 
THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

IKE many others of the old roads out of Philadel- 
k phia, the Ridge Road — so named because it is 



on the ridge between the Schuylkill and the 
Wissahickon — follows an old Indian trail. 

The owners of the primitive limekilns along the 
Schuylkill sought an easier way to market than the 
rough forest path afforded. So, in the days of Gov- 
ernor William Markham, a cartway was opened 
along the ridge. An early historian records that this 
cartway led "from the 3d limekiln into Plimouth rode, 
near Cressoon, where there is neither improved land, 
hill nor water to impede." 

Gradually the country was developed. The for- 
ests were cleared, the land was improved, and thou- 
sands of settlers found their way to the region tribu- 
tary to the Ridge. 

A map made in 1796 showed that everything north 
of Callowhill Street was country. The entire terri- 
tory beyond was shown as well covered with trees. 

In 1804 the country along the Ridge Road was so 
open that it formed a refuge for many citizens in a 
time of need. Robert Sutcliffe wrote in his account 
of his travels in America: 

Joseph Paul Ridley took me in his carriage to see 
a large encampment on the Ridge road, where many 
poor persons were accommodated who had left Phila- 
delphia to avoid the infection of yellow fever. 

173 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Thirty years later the country beyond Twentieth 
Street was still wild and lonely. In 1830 two highway- 
men attacked a Ridge Road stage carrying the United 
States mail, at what is now Twenty-third Street and 
Ridge Avenue. A hue and cry was raised, and the 
desperadoes were apprehended and thrown into jail 
at Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets. It is said 
that when an appeal was made to President Jackson 
and he pardoned one of them, an Englishman, but 
refused to interfere with the punishment of the other, 
an Irishman, Irish residents of the city thought this 
an insult to them. On the day of execution soldiers 
were sent to guard the gallows lest the infuriated com- 
patriots of the offender should effect a rescue. 

As early as 1803 a petition was made to the legis- 
lature for a turnpike road along the Ridge, but this was 
refused because the Germantown turnpike was parallel, 
and at some points was but a short distance away. 

Eight years more passed before the desired per- 
mission was wrung from the careful legislators, but on 
March 30, 1811, an act was passed "to enable the 
governor to incorporate a company for making an 
artificial road beginning at the intersection of Vine 
and Tenth Street," Philadelphia, and thence to the 
Perkiomen. The route of the new road was to be "as 
near as may be consistent with economy and utility, 
along, over and upon the bed of the present road . . . 
to Wissahiccon creek; thence to Barren Hill; thence 
to Norristown in the County of Montgomery; and 
thence by the nearest and best route to the Perkio- 
ming bridge in the county aforesaid." 
174 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

Earlier turnpike roads had had so much difficulty 
with travelers who sought to escape the payment of 
tolls that it was thought wise to include in the act of 
incorporation a provision for the fining of anyone who 
should pass a tollgate without paying the required 
fee, or who should evade payment in some other way. 
It was further ordered "that if any person or persons 
shall wilfully break, deface, pull up or prostrate any 
milestone, which shall be placed in pursuance of this 
act on the side of the said road, or shall obliterate the 
letters or figures inscribed thereon," or on a direction 
post, he was to be fined ten dollars. 

Part of this early turnpike was used for the first 
stage of the journey of Samuel Breck, the framer of 
the public schools law in Pennsylvania, when he took 
a trip;.from his estate, Sweetbrier, on the Schuylkill, 
to Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Breck, Miss Breck and a 
maid were in the party. The trip required twenty- 
six days, the distance covered was six hundred miles, 
"over excellent roads and meeting with exceedingly 
good inns, and not an accident excepting the lameness 
of one horse." Mr. Breck carefully added that the 
expense of the Journey was about five hundred dollars. 

It is interesting to read in the Recollections of 
Samuel Breck a description of the Sweetbrier estate, 
which is now a part of Fairmount Park. The house 
still stands not far from Belmont Mansion. Of his 
home Mr. Breck proudly said: 

My residence has been when at home with my fam- 
ily where it now is, for more than thirty years, being 
on an estate belonging to me, situated on the right 

175 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

bank of the Schuylkill, in the township of Blockley, 
County of Philadelphia, and two miles from the west- 
em part of the city. The mansion on the estate I 
built in 1797. It is a fine stone house, rough-cast, 
fifty-three feet long, thirty-eight broad, and three 
stories high, having out-buildings of every kind suit- 
able for elegance and comfort. The prospect consists 
of the river, animated by the great trade carried on 
in boats of about thirty ton, drawn by horses; of a 
beautiful sloping lawn terminating at that river, now 
nearly four hundred yards wide opposite the portico; 
of side-screen woods, of gardens, green-house, etc. 
Sweetbrier is the name of my villa. 

The first famous landmark along the Ridge Road, 
Girard College, was completed in 1848. The north- 
eastern boundary of the college grounds extends from 
Nineteenth to Twentieth Streets. To-day houses. cluster 
thickly about the college grounds, and pleas have been 
made to the city for opening streets through the large 
campus, but when the site was chosen it was well out 
of town. 

For forty years before his death, which occurred in 
1831, Stephen Girard, the founder of the college, was 
the loneliest man in Philadelphia. His wife was in an 
insane hospital. Hints of his great loneliness were 
given in his letters. Once he said: "I live like a galley 
slave, often passing the whole night without sleeping. 
I am wrapped up in a labyrinth of anxieties and am 
worn out with care. I do not value fortune. The love 
of labor is my highest ambition." And again : " When I 
rise in the morning, my only effort is to labor so hard that 
when night comes I may be enabled to sleep soundly." 

The lonely worker who did not value money for 
176 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

its own sake used it for the good of his country and for 
his fellows. During the war of 1812 his was the part 
that Robert Morris played during the Revolution. 
Once, when the public subscribed but twenty thou- 
sand dollars to a national loan of five million dollars, 
he restored public confidence by taking the remainder. 

And when his will was read it was found that he 
had left the bulk of his fortune to care for the poor 
boys of Philadelphia and the State. He planned that 
the college should be open to poor white boys, between 
six and ten years of age. Every orphan admitted was 
to be bound by indenture to the city authorities until 
twenty-one years of age, his entire care and education 
to be paid for by the college. No boy, he declared, 
must be permitted to remain in the institution after 
the age of eighteen. At that time, if not before, he 
should be apprenticed to learn a trade. 

One hundred orphans were admitted when the 
college opened. To-day there are more than fourteen 
hundred boys enrolled. Thus the lonely man's dream 
of bringing joy to the hearts of others has been realized. 

Several miles beyond Girard College is Falls of 
Schuylkill, noted in early days as the Mecca of the 
fisherman. The early name of the settlement was 
Fort St. David's, so called for an early fishing and 
social club which flourished until the Revolution. 
Loyalists thought of the members of this club as trai- 
tors to the king of England, and they took pleasure 
in seeing the Hessians tear down the log club house 
and in using the logs in building huts for the oflBcers 
of the British force. 

12 177 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Further down the stream stood another fishing 
club, the Colony in Schuylkill, founded in 1732, which 
now, under the name of the State in Schuylkill, has 
its club house on the Delaware, not far from Edding- 
ton station on the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

Fishing was good at the Falls of Schuylkill until 
the building of the Fairmount Water Works dam, and 
during the season tons of fish were taken from the 
water daily. 

In 1805 Sutcliffe told in an entertaining manner 
of the great catch he witnessed: 

At this part of the river, the Shad Fishery is prose- 
cuted with great spirit in the early part of summer. 
Almost every farmer who happens to have a field on 
the banks of the river, keeps a net for the purpose; 
and, with a little industry, may, in the course of two 
or three weeks, lay up a supply for the whole year. 
The fish are salted, and are brought out, through the 
winter, as a relish at breakfast and supper. I have 
sometimes stood by in the evening watching the people 
taking these fish. The nets used are about fifty or 
sixty yards in length, and about six feet in width; the 
lower side being weighted with lead, and the upper 
side supported with pieces of cork. One end of the 
net is fixed firm to a stake on the edge of the river, 
whilst the other end is taken out in a small boat to- 
wards the other side. After getting to the extent of it, 
the boat is rowed down the river, bringing the end of 
the net with it, and at length it comes to land a little 
below the stake to which the other end of the net is 
fastened, forming a circular enclosure, within which 
the fish are secured. As the net approaches the bank 
of the river, the fishes are seen struggling in all direc- 
tions; till at last they are brought close to the shore, 
178 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

where they are quickly gathered up, and thence into 
the boat. Several hundreds are, at times, taken at 
one draught, but as the fishing is continued through 
the night, during the season, the farmers often think 
themselves well paid with 20 or 30, and they weigh 
about 5 pounds each. 

The Falls and the region up the river as far as Nor- 
ristown saw much of Washington and Howe during 
the Revolution. At one time Washington's army 
crossed the Schuylkill at Levering's Ford, at Mana- 
yunk, just beyond the Falls. Colonel Pickering told 
in his journal of an annoying delay at this crossing, 
which took place on September 14, 1777. One cannot 
help sympathizing with the soldiers, while at the same 
time seeing the commander's point of view: 

The army, having yesterday cleaned their arms, 
and received ammunition to complete fifty rounds a 
man, this day marched up a few miles and recrossed 
the Schuylkill at Levering's Ford, the water being 
nearly up to the waist. We lost there much time, by 
reason of the men stripping off their stockings and 
shoes and some of them their breeches. It was a pleas- 
ant day, and, had the men marched directly over by 
platoons without stripping, no harm could have ensued; 
their clothes would have dried by night on their march, 
and the boots would not have hurt their feet. The 
oflScers," too, discovered a delicacy quite unbecoming 
soldiers; quitting their platoons, and some getting 
horses of their acquaintances to ride over, and others 
getting over in a canoe. They would have better done 
their duty, had they kept at their platoons and led on 
their men. 

Another incident is told of those trying days, of 
which John Kirk was the hero. Near the point where 

179 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

School Lane intersects Ridge Road this man, one of 
Washington's spies, popularly known as Fearnought, 
unexpectedly met a trooper of the British picket. 
The trooper was armed, but Kirk was unarmed. 
Stealthily he crept upon the unsuspecting trooper, and 
then sprang suddenly upon him, at the same time 
wresting the gun from his surprised foe. Clubbing 
the weapon, he knocked the trooper insensible, and so 
was able to make his way safely to Washington's camp, 
with his valuable information. 

Perhaps the most historic building in Falls of 
Schuylkill is the house, near Indian Queen Lane, which 
was occupied for many years, beginning in 1773, by Dr. 
William Smith, first Provost of the University of Penn- 
sylvania. It is related that on April 17, 1790, Dr. 
Smith was dining here, with David Rittenhouse, the 
astronomer, Thomas Mifflin, first Governor of Penn- 
sylvania under the Constitution, and several others, 
when word was brought to them of the death of Ben- 
jamin Franklin. At the time a fierce thunderstorm 
was raging. Dr. Smith, always quick with his pen, 
on the spot wrote the following verses: 

Cease, cease, ye clouds, your elemental strife! 
Why rage ye thus, as if to threaten life? 
Seek, seek no more to shake our souls with dread; 
What busy mortal told you, "Franklin's Dead".'' 
What though he yields at Jove's imperious nod.'' 
With Rittenhouse he left his magic rod! 

In 1777, when Washington's army was encamped 
in the neighborhood, General Stephen of Virginia had 
his headquarters in this mansion. During the yellow 
180 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

fever epidemic of 1793, General Knox, Secretary of 
the Treasury, and Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Auditor of the 
Treasury, had their offices here. 

In a house on Dr. Smith's estate lived Joseph Neef , 
who became famous because of his introduction into 
America of Pestalozzi's system of education. In 1808 
he published a small book, printed in Philadelphia, in 
which he explained how he became interested in the 
system; how he had studied with Pestalozzi in Berne, 
Switzerland, and had taught with him there, and how 
he had been brought to America by friends of educa- 
tion, who paid his expenses while he was learning their 
language, that he might show Americans the superior- 
ity of objects over books in teaching. 

Not far from the Smith mansion, on Indian Queen 
Lane, is a historic schoolhouse where books rather than 
objects have always been used. This was built as an 
academy in 1813, the funds being raised by subscrip- 
tion. On Sunday it was used for religious purposes. 
This has been called the birthplace of the churches, 
for here many of them made their start. It is now a 
mission of St. James the Less. 

Falls of Schuylkill has an even greater claim to 
distinction than its connection with early education 
through the work of Joseph Neef and through the old 
Academy. Here, it has been claimed, anthracite coal 
was first used for manufacturing purposes, in a wire mill, 
one of the early industries of this manufacturing town. 

Philadelphia long looked with suspicion on the 

"black stones," the first of which came to the city in 

1^786 or 1787. Some of this importation from Wilkes- 

181 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

barre was distributed among the shipwrights and 
smiths, but most of it was taken to the cellar of Robert 
Morris's partner, John Nicholson. When he was 
thrown into prison for debt, those who seized the val- 
uables in his house threw the coal out on Franklin 
Square, regarding it as rubbish. 

One historian says that an early miner issued hand- 
bills printed in both German and English, explaining 
the method of burning the coal. "They went also to 
blacksmiths' shops, exhibited certificates from smiths 
who had successfully used the new fuel, and sometimes 
bribed the journeymen to make the experiment fairly. 
All these efforts availed very little." It was not until 
1819 that a newspaper advertised the fuel, though 
within six years of that time it had won its way to the 
coal bins of the citizens of Philadelphia. 

Soon after leaving the Falls, the traveler comes to 
the High Bridge Tavern, one of the early hostelries 
of the Ridge Road, which had a better reputation than 
the road house of which Elizabeth Drinker told, under 
date of August 29, 1771: 

This evening our Landlady, a dirty, old, Dutch 
woman, refused changing very dirty for clean sheets; 
this after much entreaty she pretended to comply — 
but we found to our mortification she had taken the 
same sheets, sprinkled them and then ironed and hung 
them by the fire, and placed them again on the Bed; 
so that we were necessitated to use our Cloaks &c., 
and this night slept without sheets. With the assist- 
ance of our two women servants cooking, we supped 
very well, and slept better than we had reason to 
expect, all in one room. 
182 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

Next day she wrote: 

H. S. and self each folded a dirty sheet Nutmeg 
fashion, and left them covered up in ye Beds, for the 
old woman to tag and scold at. May it be the means 
to mend her manners. 

The High Bridge Tavern is familiar to Philadel- 
phians because it is near the beginning of the Wissa- 
hickon Drive, one of the most famous bits of road in 
the country. At every turn new beauties are discov- 
ered, and in most unexpected places historic spots are 
found. 

Among the earliest settlers in this beautiful glen 
were a company of forty men who came, in 1694 from 
Geneva, with John Kelpius and Daniel Falckner. They 
had come to America hoping to be free from religious 
intolerance, and here they thoroughly enjoyed them- 
selves. One of these Hermits of the Wissahickon, as 
they were called, wrote: 

What pleases one here most is that one can be peas- 
ant, scholar, priest and nobleman all at the same time 
without interference, which of all modes of living has 
been found to be the best and most satisfactory since 
patriarchal time. To be a peasant and nothing else 
is a sort of cattle life; to be a scholar and nothing else, 
such as in Europe, is a morbid and self-indulgent exist- 
ence; to be a priest and nothing else ties life to blind- 
ers and responsibilities; to be a nobleman and nothing 
else makes godless and riotous. 

The Wissahickon was a favorite haunt of Captain 
Allen McLane, who commanded the famous cavalry 
troop known as McLane's Rangers. The British put 
a price on the head of this daring commander whose 

183 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

unexpected appearances and hardy exploits kept them 
guessing. The region for many miles around, as far 
as Barren Hill and Germantown, was apt to shelter 
him at any time. He was an invaluable aid to Wash- 
ington in intercepting the supplies which the British 
tried to smuggle into the city. 

Perhaps his most famous exploit was on the night 
of the Meschianza, the entertainment given in honor of 
Howe and some of his officers when they were about to 
leave Philadelphia for England. Taking the enemy at a 
disadvantage, McLane made a sudden descent on the 
British front. "An abatis of felled trees with bristling 
branches had been built all the way from the Schuyl- 
kill to a point in Germantown so as to cover the ap- 
proach to the city by the Ridge Road, Germantown 
Road and intervening roads. The whole line of abatis 
was fired by the dragoons under McLane." The alarm 
was given. Thomas Buchanan Read has written of 
this: 

There rose a tumult wild without, 

A hurried rush of wild alarms. 
The flash of flames, the sentinel's shout. 
The shuddering guests no more could doubt 
But quaked to think the rebel crew 

Had burst in all their midnight power 

Upon them in their revel hour 
To act the Trenton scene anew. 

McLane and most of his followers crept by way of 
Barren Hill to Washington's army. There he was 
reenforced. He turned upon his pursuers and drove 
them back to the city. 

184 




THE ANGEL IIUUSE, IIAR.MA.N \ ILLE 

The name was given to this house because of the imported marble in the front wall which 
came from "Robert Morris's Folly" in Philadelphia 




/RESIDENCE OF DR. WILLIAM SMITH, FIRST PRO\ OST OF THE LM\EKSITY OF 
' PENNSYLVANIA, FALLS OF SCHUYLKILL 




MILL GROVE, NEAR PROTECTORY STATION 
The house in early manhooii of John James Audubon 




}• Vri,AM)>, IIKl.M nil, >i II I \ l.Kil.l lil\l.K 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

At Roxborough and Ridge, at the side of Grace 
Lutheran Church, is a stone barn where, after the 
battle of Germantown, a few British stragglers sought 
refuge, while near the car barn are two places worth 
more than a passing glance. 

Another spot that interests the student of Revolu- 
tionary movements is between the ninth and tenth 
milestones, where a tablet gives this information: 

About three hundred yards northwest of this place 
were encamped the Indian scouts that were a part of 
Lafayette's Command. 

On the reverse is this record: 

On the ground in the rear of this Stone the Amer- 
ican troops under Lafayette were encamped from the 
18th to the 20th of May, 1778. 

The cross-roads village of Harmanville is a center 
of historic interest. Here is the historic Harman 
Yerkes house, once a famous inn. Nearby is the home 
of Hiram Corson, where Dr. Joseph Corson, long fa- 
mous through all this region as a physician of the old 
school, had his abode. Then comes the Angel House, 
so named because of the curious carved block of mar- 
ble placed between two of the windows in the second 
story. Here are represented two cherubs, one on each 
side of a palette, on which they are writing. It has 
been explained that the artist planned thus to repre- 
sent the budding industries of the new country. 

This carving was one of many imported from 
Venice by Robert Morris as^adornments for his palatial 
house at Eighth and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia. 
When financial difficulties overtook him, the unfin- 

185 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

ished house was stripped of its adornments. Some 
were sold and some were taken by workmen in part 
settlement of their claims. One story is that the 
builder of the Angel House was a workman on Morris* 
Folly, while another story is that the carving was 
bought at a sale of the effects of the great financier 
and was handed over to the masons when they built 
this modest stone structure. 

The Angel House is of special interest for another 
reason. On the premises, in the rear, is the old Potts 
Quarry, from which was taken the stone used by the 
builders of Independence Hall. 

At Spring Mill, near the terminus of the trolley 
that passes the Angel House, is the old Legaux house. 
Though many think the house dates from about 1690, 
it received its name from Peter Legaux, a Frenchman 
who at one time was Governor of San Domingo. It 
was his idea when, in 1786, he came to the estate on 
the banks of the Schuylkill, that the growing of grapes 
and the making of wine would be profitable. On the 
two hundred acres in his possession he set out thirty 
thousand grape vines, the first vineyard of any size in 
America. To his home amid the vines, which he 
called Mt. Joy, he welcomed General Washington on 
many occasions. The house, much altered, is now 
the home of Harry S. Righter. 

In colonial days, and during the Revolution, both 
banks of the Schuylkill from Spring Mill to Consho- 
hocken, were lined with the farms of sturdy settlers who 
used to go to Norristown to market. One of these 
farms, on the west bank, at Swede's Ford, was owned 
186 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

by Peter Holstein, a relative of John Hughes, whose 
farm, Walnut Grove, is mentioned in the chapter on 
the Gulph Road. In 1785 Levi Bartleson asked Peter's 
daughter Mary to marry him. Because of his intem- 
perate habits, the father refused to give consent. Soon 
afterward the father died, leaving his entire estate to 
his only child. 

As soon as Peter died the suitor called at the house 
and, entering the room where the body lay, remained 
there a few moments. "When he came out," the 
story is told, "he remarked in a cheerful, well-satisfied 
manner, that they would now be married, for he had 
asked her father, and as silence gives consent there 
could be no further objection." 

Within five years the intemperate man had dissi- 
pated the fine estate, and his wife was left in destitute 
circumstances. For some time she earned her living 
as a servant in the house where she had been mistress. 
Then she married a farm hand and moved to Ohio. 
Some years later the people who had given employ- 
ment to the destitute wife before her second mar- 
riage, while residents of Norristown, saw a man and a 
woman, quietly dressed, riding handsome horses, pass- 
ing along Main Street, as the Ridge Road in Norris- 
town was called. To their surprise and pleasure they 
recognized the unfortunate Mary Bartleson and her 
farm-hand husband. 

The land on which Norristown is built was a part 
of the Manor lands of William Penn. In 1704 he sold 
the entire tract, which includes the present Township 

/ of Norrington, for £850. Isaac Norris was one of the 

187 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

purchasers. From him the town took its name. At 
first it was called the Town of Norris. When Mont- 
gomery County was cut off from Philadelphia in 1784, 
Norristown became the county seat. In 1795 there 
were ten buildings in the town. "In one of these," 
a traveler said, "the sessions are held; in another 
the judges reside when they come to hold -the as- 
sizes; a third is the county jail; three others are inns; 
the rest are farm-houses, shops or habitations of 
laborers." 

The only road in early Norristown was the old 
Egypt Road. On some of the old houses in Norris- 
town are still the Egypt Road signs, though this is the 
present Main Street. 

The road was so named because it passed through 
the section near the mouth of the Perkiomen which 
was overflowed every year; the deposit of soil made the 
lands fertile like the overflow lands of Egypt. 

The Egypt Road, which may be considered a part 
of the Ridge Road, has an interesting history. Joseph 
Richardson, who built at Olethelo on the Schuylkill, 
near Phoenixville, in a petition dated in 1722 declared 
"that there is no certain Road laid out from thence 
towards the city of Philadelphia," and he asked the 
Court to order a King's Road or Cartway through the 
various hills and up and down the aforementioned 
places, to wit, from the India town ford to the next 
established King's Road that will best suit the inhabi- 
tants of Olethelo to the said city of Philadelphia. The 
petition was^granted, and a jury was appointed to lay 
out the road. Joseph Richardson was made one of 
188 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

the "overseers of ye above road." The work of survey- 
ing was done and approved by the court. 

But Isaac Norris, who had bought the Manor of 
Wilhamstadt, objected to the new road. His ten thou- 
sand acres of land he had divided into small lots. The 
proposed road would cross his Manor and he did not 
want his land taken for any such purpose. He said that 
there was no need of a road, since there was another 
road near; why have a second.'^ Richardson asked him 
to go over the route and suggest possible changes. On 
November 8, 1725, Norris met Richardson in the 
woods. The men were unable to agree, however. 

On the 5th of 4th month, 1727, Norris presented 
a petition to the Court. In this he stated that he was 
informed a road had been "petitioned to be laid out . . . 
which runs aslant more than four miles through . . . 
Wm Stadt, obliquely, cutting the line of the several 
lots laid out years before in the said Mannor very 
injuriously." So he pleaded for a reconsideration, but 
this was denied and the road was built. 

If they could speak, two neighboring houses on a 
byway that leads from Egypt Road would be able to 
tell a pleasing romance. Opposite a deserted black- 
smith shop, on the right, is the gateway to Mill Grove. 
Some distance farther on, on the left, is the entrance to 
beautiful Fatlands, so named because the estate in- 
cluded what was known as the "Fat Lands of Egypt." 

And this is the romance of these two old homes of 
early days: 

About two hundred years ago there lived in France 

a poor fisherman named Audubon, who had nineteen 

189 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

daughters and two sons. One of the sons was sent 
away to make his fortune when he was twelve years 
of age. His entire patrimony was a shirt, a suit of 
clothes, a cane, and a blessing. For five years he was 
a sailor before the mast. Then he bought a boat. He 
prospered and bought other vessels. After many years 
he had large wealth, and was trading to the distant 
quarters of the earth. 

When he was an old man he paid a visit to Amer- 
ica. In two widely separated places, attracted by the 
country, he bought land. One estate was on Perkio- 
men Creek, near Philadelphia; the other was in Loui- 
siana. In Louisiana he spent much of his time; and 
there, on May 4, 1780, John James Audubon was born. 

Commodore Audubon wanted his son to be a sea- 
man, and he took him to France that he might be edu- 
cated for the navy. But the boy's tastes were in 
another direction altogether. One of the teachers pro- 
vided for him was an artist, who gave him lessons in 
drawing that were intended as a part of his training 
for the profession the father had chosen for him. But 
John James put drawing to a use of his own. On his 
holidays he used to take a lunch and go into the coun- 
try, and he returned loaded with natural history 
specimens of all kinds. These he preserved in a cab- 
inet of his own devising, and he made and treasured 
drawings of many of them. 

Commodore Audubon, not pleased with his son*s 
habits, thought he would give him something to do 
that would distract his mind. The estate in Pennsyl- 
vania needed a superintendent, so he sent the would- 
190 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

be naturalist to America, with instructions to look 
after the estate. 

But the wild woods about Philadelphia offered so 
many opportunities for tramping and nature investi- 
gation that the estate was neglected. Along the Per- 
kiomen he could ramble for hours, with his gun or his 
fishing rod or his collecting instruments. He has left 
a description of his appearance and ways at this 
period: 

I had no vices, but was thoughtless, pensive, lov- 
ing, fond of shooting, fishing and riding, and had a 
passion for raising all sorts of fowls. It was one of my 
passions to be ridiculously fond of dress; to hunt in 
black satin breeches, wear pumps when shooting, and 
dress in the finest ruffled shirts I could obtain from 
France. 

Before long the attic room which he occupied was 
a treasure house of birds and animals and natural his- 
tory specimens. He was his own taxidermist. He 
did his work seated at a window that looks toward 
the Valley Forge country, where Washington spent 
the winter of 1777-1778 with his faithful soldiers. 
The marks of his work are still to be seen on the old 
boards beneath the window. These boards came from 
the sawmill on the estate which gave the house its 
name. 

Here in this attic room the young naturalist dreamed 
of making careful, accurate drawings of all the birds 
of America. He knew that this would be a difficult 
matter, but he was not deterred by thoughts of hard- 
ship and poverty. 

191 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

One who viewed his attic room told of what he saw : 

I was astonished and delighted to find that it was 
turned into a museum. The walls were festooned 
with all sorts of birds' eggs, carefully blown and strung 
on a thread. The chimney piece was covered with 
stuffed squirrels, raccoons and opossums, and the 
shelves around were likewise crowded with specimens, 
among which were fish, frogs, snakes, lizards and other 
reptiles. 

While he was dreaming of what he would do for 
the world, something was happening in London that 
was to have an effect on his life. William Bakewell, 
one of the Sheriffs of London, refused to be silent 
about a matter that George III felt should be forgot- 
ten; he was a conscientious man, and he did not feel 
that silence would be proper. The king rebuked him, 
and he resigned his office. At once he made up his 
mind to leave England and make a home in America, 
taking with him his wife, his two sons and his daugh- 
ter. 

After many investigations, he found an estate near 
Philadelphia that pleased him — Fatlands, on the 
Schuylkill, near the Perkiomen; there he went in Jan- 
uary, 1804. The original mansion house at Fatlands 
was built by James Vaux in 1774. There the English 
immigrant made his home. 

Of course Audubon heard of the coming of the 

strangers to the house across the road, not half a mile 

from his own quarters. But he did not go to call on 

them. He was French and they were English; he felt 

sure they would be undesirable acquaintances, and 
192 




i^Ck' 





•i li 





£A/ .r/C:.^ 




THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

that he had better keep to the woods and follow his 
own pursuits, without reference to others. Even when, 
on his return from a hunting expedition, he learned 
that Mr. Bake well and his daughter had called at 
Mill Grove, he was reluctant to make a return visit. 

There came a winter day when Audubon was fol- 
lowing some grouse down the creek. Suddenly he 
came upon Mr. Bakewell. The naturalist's prejudices 
were dissipated by the discovery that the Englishman 
had kindred tastes. "I was struck with the kind polite- 
ness of his manners," Audubon wrote later. "I found 
him a most expert marksman, and entered into con- 
versation. I admired the beauty of his well-trained 
dogs, and finally promised to call on himself and his 
family. Well do I recollect the morning, and it please 
God may I never forget it, when, for the first time, I 
entered the Bakewell household. It happened that 
Mr. Bakewell was from home. I was shown into a 
parlor, where only a young lady was seated at work, 
with her back turned towards the fire. She rose on my 
entrance, offered me a seat, and assured me of the 
gratification her father would feel on his return, which, 
she added with a smile, would be in a few minutes, as 
she would send a servant after him. . . . The young lady 
made the time pass pleasantly enough, and to me 
especially so. It was she, my dear Lucy Bakewell, 
who afterward became my wife and the mother of my 
children." 

After Mr. Bakewell's return "Lucy rose from her 
seat," Audubon wrote on, "and her face, to which I had 
before paid little attention, seemed radiant with beauty, 
13 193 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

and my heart and eyes followed her everywhere. The 
repast being over, guns and dogs were provided, and 
as we left I was pleased to believe that Lucy looked 
upon me as a not very strange animal. Bowing to her, 
I felt, I knew not why, that I was not indifferent to 
her." 

Before long the lovers devised a method of com- 
munication between Mill Grove and Fatlands, by means 
of a series of signals, chalked on a board and hung 
out of the window. On every possible occasion the 
young people were together. Lucy Bake well taught 
English to Audubon, and the young naturalist taught 
her to love. 

Lucy's brother William became Audubon's com- 
panion on his expeditions in the forest and on the creek. 
Once, when they were shooting, Audubon wagered that 
he could put a shot through his cap tossed in the air 
while he was passing it at full speed. The wager was 
won; the cap was riddled. 

On one of these expeditions the naturalist nearly 
lost his life. While pursuing a flock of wild geese, he 
plunged into an air hole in the ice and was swept down 
stream. Fortunately, he came up at another air hole 
and was dragged out by his companions. He was 
taken to Fatlands, where he was put to bed. It was 
three months before he was able to return to Mill 
Grove. 

The dream of the lovers was interrupted by the 

coming of an overseer named Da Costa, whom the 

senior Audubon had sent from France to look after the 

lead mines at Mill Grove. He assumed authority over 
194 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

young Audubon, attempted to limit his finances, and 
made objections to his marriage, on the ground that 
Lucy Bake well was beneath him. Audubon resisted 
and demanded money to go to France, that he might 
appeal to his father. Da Costa thereupon sent him 
to New York with a letter of credit. The season was 
midwinter, but Audubon walked to New York in three 
days. There he was informed not only that there was 
no money for him, but that Da Costa had suggested 
that he be seized and shipped to India. From a friend 
he procured money and went to France. There he 
secured the removal of Da Costa, and told of his engage- 
ment. His father wrote to Mr. Bakewell, and was 
delighted to learn that he belonged to the family of 
the Peverils, landowners in Derbyshire, famous because 
Sir Walter Scott made one of the name the hero of 
"Peveril of the Peak." 

At length, after Mill Grove had been settled on 
Audubon by his father, he sold the property, and on 
April 8, 1808, he was married to Lucy Bakewell. Then 
they began the long wanderings in the West and the 
South, the fruit of which was what has been called one 
of the most wonderful ornithological treatises ever made. 
Mr. and Mrs. Audubon floated down the Ohio 
River, spent a season in Kentucky and Missouri, had 
narrow escapes from the Indians, and finally found 
their way to Louisiana. There for a time the wife 
supported herself by teaching at the home of a planter. 
Friends and acquaintances thought the husband was 
a madman to continue his quest of the birds when his 
family was in straitened circumstances. But Mrs. 

195 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Audubon believed in him, and urged him to go to 
Europe and study painting in oils, that he might be 
better equipped for the preparation of his bird plates. 
She secured a good situation as teacher at Bayou Sara, 
and was soon enjoying an income of three thousand 
dollars a year. 

Finally, with some of his own savings, as well as 
some of his wife's funds, Audubon went to England, 
where he was well received. Plans were made to pub- 
lish the bird plates, with descriptive matter, at $1,000 
per set. He had to have a hundred advance subscribers. 
These he secured by personal solicitation. 

At last the work was issued. Cuvier called it "the 
most magnificent work that art ever raised to orni- 
thology." 

Many years later Audubon, after the death of his 
wife, returned to the scenes of his early life as a nat- 
uralist. "Here is where I met my dear Lucy," he said 
with glistening eyes, as he looked into one of the rooms 
of the old mansion. 

Between the Quaker meeting house and the entrance 
to Fatlands, in the edge of the wood, jutting stones in 
the wall show the beginning of a path that leads to 
the Bakewell burial lot. Here lies the body of Lucy 
Bakewell's mother, who died in September, 1804, after 
pining for months for her English home. On the stone 
are these lines: 

A lovely form, a soul devoid of art, 
With all the kind affections of the heart; 
A tender mother and a faithful wife, 
In duty's sacred path she moved through life. 
196 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

Though husband, children, friends implored her stay 
He who bestows hath right to take away. 
In humble faith this hope we keep in view 
The pow'r that formed us will our lives renew. 

In the same grave is the body of her husband. 
Timothy Matlack, secretary of the Constitutional 
Congress, is also buried in the lot, together with one 
hundred and fifty Free Quakers. 

Not far from this burial ground, on the bank of the 
Schuylkill, General Sullivan built a pontoon bridge, 
at the direction of General Washington, that he might 
have free access from Valley Forge to the north bank 
of the river. When the American army left Valley 
Forge in 1778, the soldiers used this bridge and passed 
near the house, and on to Egypt Road. 

In 1804, Robert Sutcliffe wrote of Vaux Hall, after- 
ward Fatlands : 

I paid a visit to a relative above Norristown. This 
plantation consists of 300 acres of land. On the estate 
is a well-finished square stone house, about fifteen yards 
in length, with a wide boarded-floor piazza both in 
back and front. ... In these piazzas they frequently 
take tea and spend the evenings. Beside the dwelling- 
house, there is an excellent kitchen, and offices adjoin- 
ing; with a large barn, and stables sufficient to accom- 
modate 40 horses and cows; all well built of stone. 
The estate extends the whole breadth between the 
Schuylkill and Perkioming. . . . The house is sosituated 
that it commands one of the finest prospects in Penn- 
sylvania. . . . The whole together forms one of the most 
beautiful spots I have seen in the United States. The 
estate, with all its appendages, cost about 3100£ ster- 
ling, which is but 12£ per acre, the buildings included. 

197 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The plantation was formerly in the possession of a 
friend from London, of the name of Vaux, who built 
the house and made the improvements upon it. When 
he resided here with his family, during the American 
war, being in full view of the great American encamp- 
ment at Valley Forge, and on the opposite side of the 
river Schuylkill, he had frequently the company of 
General Howe, and the other British commanders. 
One day it happened that he had Howe to break- 
fast and Washington to tea; and being a friend who 
wished well to all men, he made no distinction be- 
tween the contending parties, but left his house open 
to all. This was the general practice of friends during 
the war. 

The estate was advertised for sale, August 7, 1813, 
thus: 

Contains upward of 200 acres, one-third very good 
woodland. House 45 by 35, stone, with piazza on 
each side, a two story kitchen and wash-house, adjoin- 
ing a large stone bam with Stable for 40 head and horses 
and cattle, two tenements, a threshing-mill, which 
threshes 12 bushels of barley in an hour. 

Stone hog-house 56 feet long, a stone building for 
sheep 90 feet long, with 2 wings 30 feet each and ice 
house. On the Schuylkill is a shad fishery. This farm 
for healthiness and fertility is not exceeded by any 
other in Pennsylvania. Is admirably adapted for keep- 
ing sheep, having kept between 2 and 300 near 10 years, 
without having lost any by dogs. If not sold before 
the 24th of Sept. it will be sold at public vendue, 
together with about 200 sheep of the English Morena 
breeds, span of oxen and other cattle, 4 asses, 7 horses, 
a drilling machine, a large 3 furrow plow, 2 wagons, 2 
carts, a large roller, above 30 pigs of the English Berk- 
shire breed. 
198 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

In 1825 the estate came into the Wetherill family. 
In 1843 WilHam Wetherill rebuilt the house on the 
original foundations. To-day it is the property of Dr. 
Wetherill. 

Mill Grove is an older estate than Fatlands. The 
house was built in 1762 by James Morgan. In 1813, 
five years after the marriage of Audubon, it was bought 
by Samuel Wetherill, the grandfather of the present 
owner, W. H. Wetherill, because of the lead mines on 
the place. The mines date back to the days of W^illiam 
Penn. Mr. Wetherill was the founder of the firm of 
Samuel Wetherill & Son, the oldest white lead manu- 
facturers in America, whose first factory stood on the 
site of the present Girard Trust Company's building, 
at Broad and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia. For 
many years lead had been imported from England, 
but when the War of 1812 prevented further impor- 
tation, the manufacturers looked about them for a 
source of supply nearer home. Learning of the Mill 
Grove Mines Farm, where he had heard that supplies 
were obtained during the Revolution, the place 
was bought and the mine was developed. Operations 
continued till the discovery of great deposits in the 
West, which made the product of the mine in the 
neighborhood of Philadelphia too insignificant for com- 
parison. 

The farm took its name not only from the mine, 
but also from the grist mill, remains of which can still 
be seen in a field across the lane leading to the house. 
It is said that this mill ground more grain for Wash- 
ington's army than any other mill in the neighborhood, 

199 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

not even excepting the Valley Forge mill. This mill 
was old in the days of Audubon. 

A paper in the library at Mill Grove gives a list of 
the twenty men and women who have owned the farm 
since it passed from the hands of William Penn in 1699. 

Still another landmark is half a mile beyond Fat- 
lands. A lane leads through the woods to the pictur- 
esque old home of John Price Wetherill, Sr. This can- 
not be seen from the road; it is hidden in a hollow 
amid the trees. 

In early days, in the vicinity of this estate, on the 
Schuylkill, was one of the pens for catching shad into 
which as many as 8,500 fish were driven at one time. 
Such pens, with the "dams, weirs and Kedles" that 
abounded, caused so much trouble that they were made 
illegal by the Act of August 15, 1730. But the law 
was evaded. A record of 1732 tells of the complaint 
of one who was aggrieved by reason of the failure of 
the law to correct the abuse: 

Marcus Huling saith that as he was going down the 
Schuylkill with a Canoe Loaded with wheat, that 
striking on a fish dam, she took in a great deal of water 
into ye wheat, by means of which his wheat was much 
damnified, and that it was in great danger of being 
all lost, and that at another time he strok fast on a fish 
dam, and should have lost his whole Load of Wheat, 
if he had not leaped into ye river, and with hard Labor, 
prevented ye Canoe from Swinging round, and he 
suffered very much in his body by reason of ye water 
and cold. 

In 1738 the farmers who lived above these weirs 
and pens resolved that they could not consent to be 

200 




-M 




INTERIOR OF A COVERED TURNPIKE BRIDGE 





iTiSteSiris ,___i"tJs£»i 



.^ 



UMSTAD MANdU, 1 78j, NEAR OVK- --1 VTKiN 
The home of Mr. Francib V. FaMu^on 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

deprived any longer of the shad they felt were their 
due. They therefore organized a canoe expedition and 
floated down stream, intent on destroying the struc- 
tures. The fishermen defended their property and 
drove off the invaders. When the men took refuge in 
Perkiomen Creek, their canoe grounded, and they 
were compelled to flee into the forest. The pursuers 
destroyed the navy of the invaders and returned in 
triumph to the enjoyment of their shad. 

Near Perkiomen Creek, on the Egypt Road, are 
the ruins of the smelter and shaft of the first copper 
mine in America, while beyond the Perkiomen, on the 
banks of the Schuylkill, is Umstad Manor, the home 
of Francis V. Eavenson. Henry Pawling bought the 
ground from the Penn Estate in 1706. The place was 
sold to Jonas Umstad, the ancestor of Mrs. Eavenson, 
in 1768. Thus for nearly one hundred and fifty years 
the estate has been in the Umstad family. The manor 
was built in 1785. The present house is the old house 
remodeled. 

The last bit of the Ridge Road may be traversed by 
trolley from Jeffersonville. At Mt. Ejrk the trolley 
turns to the left to avoid the hill, for the track was 
laid in the early days of electric roads, when builders 
avoided hills whenever possible. But the hill should 
be climbed, for on the summit is Providence Presby- 
terian Church, twenty miles from Philadelphia, founded 
in 1730. In the picturesque cemetery above the church 
an hour may easily be spent. 

A curious stone near the road attracts attention. 
^This was erected to the memory of a victim of the 

201 



OLD TxOADS OUT OF P II I LAD ELF 11 1 A 

Joliiistomi flood, who gave his Ufe in the etYort to save 
his sister; both were passengers ou a train canght by 
the water. Beneath the inscription is carved a Pull- 
man car, while a resistless wall of water carrying build- 
ings and train is fairly well represented. 

On the stone of Captain John Ilauiilton, 1779, are 
these lines : 

^Ye^e I so tall to reach the Pole 
Or grasp the Ocean with my Span, 
I must be measured by my Soul, 
The Mind's the Standard of the Man. 

Those who mourned for Henry Hamilton, the vic- 
tim of a shooting atYray in 170:>. said of him: 

The blooming youth whose soul in bliss we trust 

A highway Rl'FFIX quick reduced to dust 

By one sore Stroke, which pierced the parents' heart 

Cold death asunder dearest friends can part. 

But we'll submit ^Liy God forgive the crime 

"Who wisely rule tlie hardest fate of time. 

Near by lies the body of Joseph Crawford, Sr,, who 
helped row Washington over the Delaware, 

One of the most interesting stones marks the grave 
of Rev, John Campbell. Li 17o:>, wliile in Providence 
pulpit, he was reading the fifteenth verse of the one 
himdred and sixteenth Psalm, 

''Dear in thy sight is thy saints' death: 
Thy servant. Lord, am I" — 

when he was stricken with paralysis. His friend. 
President Da vies of Princeton, prepared the inscrip- 
tion for his tomb, wliich was here used for the first 

time, though it has been copied often since: 
202 



THE RIDGE ROAD TO PERKIOMEN 

In yonder sacred house I spent my Breath, 
Now silent sleeping here I lie in Death. 
These silent lips shall wake, and yet declare 
A dread Amen to Truth they published there. 

On a high hill beyond Mt. Kirk, twenty-one miles 
from Philadelphia, a sign gives the information: 

You can see 7 Counties from here. 
Look north and see Allentown. 
Look west and see Neversink Mountain. 
Look east and see William Penn's Hat, 
Look south and see Valley Forge Mills. 

Several miles farther on the Ridge joins the Ger- 
mantown Road just before the sturdy stone bridge 
over the Perkiomen is crossed. A tablet on the right 
wall tells its story: 

This bridge was founded in the year of our Lord 
1798 & finished in 1799. 

The six-arch bridge was modeled after a bridge 
over the Seine in France. It has resisted great floods 
and the impact of tremendous ice jams, and it is as 
stanch as when it was built by the conscientious "Un- 
dertaker of Masonry" nearly a hundred and twenty 
years ago, 



203 



VIII 
THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

IN 1683, when the first immigrants sought to go to 
what is now Germantown to make their new home, 
it is probable that they made their way along a 
well-defined path that followed much the same route 
as the present Germantown Road. In fact, the expla- 
nation has been given that the Germantown Road of 
to-day owes its strange windings to the habit of the 
Indian to choose the easiest way, even if this was a 
crooked way. 

These immigrants from Crefeld, in Germany, settled 
on lands secured for them by Francis Daniel Pastorius 
and allotted to them in Pastorius' cave house. They 
planned to make their living by farming, but they did 
not propose to be far from one another; for compan- 
ionship as well as protection they built their first quaint 
houses in two rows, one on either side of the rough 
track. By day they would scatter to the lands in the 
rear of the houses; by night they would be in close 
touch with each other. This arrangement, so popular 
in the homeland, had even greater advantages in the 
new country. Early maps of Philadelphia and its 
vicinity show the construction of the village after this 
manner, and early travelers noted it. 

Gradually the early track from Philadelphia became 
a road. Pastorius wrote once: "The path to German- 

204. 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

town has by frequent going to and fro been so strongly- 
beaten that a road has been formed." 

Not many years passed before the residents of Ger- 
mantown decided that they must have some better 
avenue of approach to Philadelphia than the rough 
track. So, in March, 1709, certain men who described 
themselves as residents of the county of Philadelphia 
presented to the Assembly a paper that read: 

The Peticon of John Spreogle and Mons Jones in 
behalf of themselves and Divers other freeholders of 
the s*^ county of Philadelphia, Humbly Sheweth That 
your Peticoners Haveing Plantacons lying Very Re- 
mote in the Country and In the Edge or Outskirts of 
this County, And It being Very Difficult for them to 
pass and Repass unto their Said Plantacons by Reason 
there is No Publick Road Laid out far Enough to Reach 
to the said Plantacons. 

Yoer Peticoners, Therefore pray this Court Would 
be pleased to Order Six Housekeepers of the Neighbor- 
hood to view and Allot Some Convenient Plan for Lay- 
ing Out A Road from the Late House of Edward Lane 
Deceased being on the Queen's Highway unto Mannita- 
nia. According to An Act of Assembly in that case 
Made and Provided. 

And your Peticoners shall pray. 

This curious document was signed by fourteen men, 
of whom five made their mark. 

The following action was taken by the Assembly: 

Order 'd that Mouns Jones Walter Thomson Mat- 
thew Brook Andrew Lycon John Justus and James 
Brook or some four of 'em do lay out the sd Road and 
Report next Sess. 

205 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

One reason the new road was needed was that the 
product of the paper mill of William Rightinghuisen, 
built in 1690, might have better access to Philadelphia. 
For twenty years he had managed somehow to get his 
paper to market, but better facilities were needed. 
Then there were other manufactured products which 
the thrifty Germantowners desired to send to the town 
on the Delaware. 

Part of a curious poem, written by Richard Fraeme, 
one of the early settlers of Philadelphia, tells of these 
primitive industries. He called it "A short descrip- 
tion of Pensilvania; or a Relation of what Things are 
Known, Enjoyed and like to be Discovered in said 
Province." This was printed in 1692: 
The German-Town, of which I spoke before. 
Which is, at least, in length one mile or more, 
Where lives High-German People, and Low Dutch, 
Whose Trade in Weaving Linen Cloth is Much. 
There grows the Flax, as also you may know. 
That from the same they do divide the Tow; 
Their trade fits well within their Habitation, 
We find Convenience for the Occasion : 
One Trade brings in Imployment for another. 
So that we may suppose each Trade a Brother; 
From Linen Rags good Paper doth derive. 
The first Trade keepeth the second Trade Alive; 
Without the first, the second cannot be. 
Therefore since these Two can so well agree. 
Convenience doth appear to place them nigh, 
One in Germantown, t'other hard by, 
A Paper Mill near German Town doth stand. 
So that the Flax, which first springs from the Land, 
First Flax, then Yarn, and then they must begin 
To weave the same, which they took pains to spin. 

206 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

Also, when on our back it is well worn, 
Some of the same remains, Ragged and Tom; 
Then of the Rags our Paper it is made, 
Which in process of time doth waste and fade: 
So what comes from the earth, appeareth plain. 
The same in time returns to Earth again. 

A poem written six years later by Judge Holme 
referred to the departure of William Bradford, printer, 
to New York, after making an agreement with Mr. 
Rittenhouse that he was to have, if he wished, the 
entire product of what was at the time the only paper 
mill in America. This early monopolist made such 
demands on the mill that the owner frequently longed 
for a better road to the city. 

Here is a part of Judge Holme's literary gem: 

Here dwelt a printer and I find 

That he can both print books and bind; 

He wants not paper, ink nor skill 

He's owner of a paper mill. 

The paper mill is here hard by 

And makes good paper frequently; 

But the printer, as I do here tell. 

Is gone into New York to dwell. 

No doubt but he will lay up bags 

If he can get good store of rags. 

Kind friend, when thy old shift is rent. 

Let it to th' paper mill be sent. 

That the road asked for by the "Peticoners" who 
had to make their marks was built and became a great 
thoroughfare is evident from a reference in the account 
of the travels of Governor Thomas Pownall, in 1754. 
After telling of the Lancaster road, to Harris' Ferry 

207 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

(Harrisburg) he told of "another great road, which 
goes from Philadelphia to the same ferry, but keeps on 
the N. E. side of the Schuylkill, and runs through Ger- 
mantown, &c. to Reading." 

As population increased there was demand for some- 
thing better than the dirt road which, at certain sea- 
sons, was impassable. A picture of the trying condi- 
tions is given by Scharf & Westcott : 

The travel between the city and that borough (Ger- 
mantown) became so great that heavy ruts were cut 
in the highway, which became a slough of mire in wet 
weather. In the spring of the year, especially, the way 
was only possible with the greatest difficulty. Wagons 
were buried, stalled, and broken. Horses were sprained 
and weakened by the extraordinary efforts to drag their 
loads; and such was the bad character of the roads that 
practically, at certain periods of the year, there was 
non-intercourse between Philadelphia and Germantown. 

In these early days it was the custom at some points 
to cut the cedar trees that grew at the side of the road 
and put them under the mired horses. Many a team 
was saved in this way. Years later, when excavations 
were made in the avenue, some of these cedar trunks, 
well preserved, were found at depths of fifteen and even 
twenty feet. 

In April, 1793, a petition was presented for a turn- 
pike road from Chestnut Hill, through Germantown 
to Philadelphia. A committee reported in favor of 
building the road to the tenth milestone. But there 
were objections from those who were opposed to what 
they called "special legislation," and the project was 
abandoned for the time. 

208 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

In 1801 petitioners had better success, for on Feb- 
ruary 12 of that year there was approval of "an act 
to enable the Governor of the Commonwealth to in- 
corporate a company for making an artificial road from 
the city of Philadelphia through Germantown, to the 
ten mile stone on Chestnut Hill, and from thence to 
the new stone bridge on Perkiomen creek in the county 
of Montgomery." 

A graphic list of the vehicles found on the public 
road at that time, as well as a hint that the users of the 
road were much like the travelers of later days, is given 
in the provision of the act, "that any person or per- 
sons whomsoever owning, riding on, or driving a sulky, 
chair, chaise, phaeton, cart, waggon, wain, sleigh, sled, 
or other carriage of burthen, pleasure, or owning, riding, 
leading or driving any horse, mare, gelding, hogs, sheep 
or other cattle, shall therewith pass through any private 
gate or bars, or along or over any private passage, way, 
or other ground, near to or adjoining any turnpike or 
gate erected, with an intent to defraud the company 
and avoid the payment of the toll or duty . . . shall 
pay a fine of ten dollars." 

The next step came in March, 1802, when "The 
President, Managers, and Company of the Germantown 
and Reading Turnpike Road" were incorporated to 
build a road through Germantown to the top of Chest- 
nut Hill and thence through Hickorytown, the Trappe 
and Pottstown to Reading. 

It was provided that the income from tolls above 
nine per cent, should be invested in a fund to pay 
off the shares of the Company, that the road might 
14 209 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

become free. But it was not until 1874 that the toll 
collectors ceased to worry those who used the road. 

Milestones were carefully placed along the road, 
and many of these may still be seen. Of one of the 
stones an old resident of Germantown some years ago 
told this story: 

The old milestone standing on Germantown avenue 
below Armat street in years gone by was a sort of social, 
political and sporting centre in Germantown, just as 
the town pump is in rural villages. A queer thing 
about it is that originally it was the sixth milestone on 
Germantown road, but now the inscription reads "5 
miles to Phila." The explanation given is that about 
1840 the figures were changed because the city was 
growing toward Germantown. From this stone excit- 
ing fox chases used to start in the old times, the pop- 
ular route being down through the Wingohocking Valley 
to Fisher's Hollow, then across to the York road 
and on to Haines street, returning thence to German- 
town. It was on one of these chases that a disastrous 
ending came to the love affair of a youth named Mac- 
Kenzie. He and another youth were both suitors for 
the hand of Nancy M., an ardent follower of the chase. 
A group of fox-hunters were about to "take" the creek 
in Fisher's Hollow one day when young MacKenzie's 
horse stumbled and the rider was thrown into the water. 
When he emerged he presented such a ludicrous ap- 
pearance that the young woman, who was in the party, 
laughed outright. This so abashed MacKenzie that 
he never again could summon up enough courage to 
plead his cause, and the other fellow married the girl. 

Soon after Wayne Junction is passed the old houses 
of Germantown appear one after another in quick suc- 
cession. Between the 4500 block and the 6900 block 
210 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

there are more than fifty houses of special interest, 
while on the cross streets there are a number of others. 
In early days there were not many of these cross streets, 
however, so most of the historic houses are on the Main 
Street. 

For this section of the old Germantown Road, at 
least an afternoon is necessary even for a passing view 
of the points of special interest. An invaluable hand- 
book for the investigator is "Historic Germantown," 
prepared for the Sites and Relic Society of the quaint 
old town. 

Special note should be made of the Toland house, 
4810 Main Street, built in 1740, at the time of the 
Battle of Germantown the home of George Miller, an 
oflScer in the American army, whose wife was forced 
to bake bread for the British officers; the Ottinger 
house, 4825 Main Street, the birthplace of Captain 
Douglas Ottinger, the inventor of the Ottinger Life 
Car, with which many life-saving stations have been 
equipped; and the Wagner house, 4840 Main Street, on 
whose floors bloodstains testify to its use as a hospital 
by the British. 

In the 4900 block, opposite the Henry house, which 
dates from 1760, is the old Lower Germantown Burial 
Ground, whose curious gravestones will repay study. 
An inscription that compels most readers to smile says 
of the young man buried there: 

He was noble hearted & amiable & 
Intelligent, having been awarded 
A silver goblet for a literary 
/ Production at the age of 18. 

211 



OLD ROADS OUT OF P 11 1 L A D E L T U 1 A 

Gilbert Stuart, the famous portrait artist, to whom 
Washington sat. lived at 5110 Maiu Street, from 179C> 
to ISOO. His studio was in a barn in the rear of the 
house. In this barn Washington sat for the portrait 
now owned by the Athenanun of Boston. 

ir2\9 Main Street is of speeial interest to the student 
of the old roads, for here were made some of the iirst 
Germantown wagons. Here, in 1780, John l>ringhurst 
built, a chariot, for which George Washington paid 
£'210 in gold. One of the specifications for this chariot 
was that it luive the AVashington arms and crest, "prop- 
erly disp'd of" on the doors. 

.VJr):> jNlain Street is the site of the home and print- 
ing house of Christopher Saner, who came to Philadel- 
phia in ll^-i. In 1781 he built here a mansion with 
movable partitions, which he used both as a hospital 
and as a place for religious worship. It was his custom, 
when a vessel arrived from Gern\any, to take vehicles, 
and go to the landing for sick passengers, whom he 
would take to his house, caring for them until they were 
able to earn their own living. 

Saner was a pharmacist, but when he noted how 
diihcult it was to obtain German books, he secured in 
1738 printing materials from Germany. In 17S9 he 
published an almanac, a vohin\e of hymns and a news- 
paper, which gained a circulation of four thousand 
copies. It is said that it was a connnon sight to see a 
long line of Conestoga wagons standing before his house, 
waiting for books and medical supplies to be carried 
to Philadelphia and other places. 

In 1743 he printed a German quarto Bible, the first 
212 



T II E O I> I) f ; J: ft M A N T OWN R O A I> 

J>if>|(-;Iri a fOurofif-an I.'iM^nja^^^c prinl.cfj in ArMf:nV:a. He cast 
fiisown t..yf>f; .'iru) fn;j.fj(; fiis own ink. I><:ff>n; rruiny years 
Ik; w;i.s liif, [>uf>Ji.s}i(;r of rnr^rf; fiiari t,wo liundrcrJ hooks. 

In 1752 fils son CfirisfofJif^r \}f:inu\ \.<) f,akf; an active 
pari, liofJi in \\)<: f>rJnt,in)L^ ofFicf; anr] in fJic pliiiTmn/ty, 
anf] in I7/>8 lie suer;e(;fJed l.o t,hf; f>usiness. From his 
press were issued t.wo editions of the Bible. 

'I'he Wiste-r house, .0201 Main Strf;et, wlilcli rJates 
from 1744, w;i,s \}\f: fjome of S;dly VVister, wlio wrote 
the famous di;iry tiiat ;/u,vi: so iii'.u\y intimate ^dimpses 
of p(;ople arid evf;nts during the days of the British 
occupation of Pfn'larJelphia. The vivacious chron- 
icle was f>rep;i,n;d at thr; Foulke house, TrrnDyn, on the; 
Wissahickon, where th(; authc^r had retired with friends 
while thf; British wf;rf; \r) the neij^hhorhr^od. 

5425 Main Str^tet is notaf>le because it is the site 
of the house in wliicli Louisa May Alcott was horn, 
during her father's hrief residence in Germantown. 

Market Square is a spot of special interest. This 
was lon^ the c-enter of Germaritown husirjcss life. '\'\\(-. 
market housf; was liere, as well as thf; Ijousc of one of 
the c-arli(;st fire companif;s, and it was the site of the 
prison, the stocks and the pound. 

At 5442 Main Stref;t is thf; Morris house, where 
Washing^ton lived during the yellow fever epidemic 
of 1793 and during the summer of 1794. Watson's 
Annals says that during these periods he was "a fre- 
quent walker ahrr>ad up the Main Street, and daily 
rode out on horsehack or in his phaeton." Prohahly 
some of the people who rf;ceived his affahle greetings 
thought with regret that at one time it looked as if 

213 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Germantown might have been the permanent capital of 
the United States. In 1789, when one house of Congress 
fixed on the Falls of the Susquehanna as the site of !the 
capital, the Senate amended the proposal by suggest- 
ing Germantown. The next year, however, the site 
on the Potomac was named, and Congress began to 
provide for the building of the "palace in the woods." 
One of the striking features of this locality is the 
Market Square Presbyterian Church, an organization 
which dates from the days of Pastorius, the founder 
of Germantown. In the ship on which he came to 
Philadelphia were people of many sorts. To his parents 
he wrote: 

The religious beliefs of the foreigners, and Voca- 
tions were so varied that the ship might be compared 
to Noah's ark. I brought with me four men servants, 
two woman servants, two children and an apprentice. 
Among these were adherents of the Romish, the Lu- 
theran, the Calvinistic (Reformed), the Anabaptist, and 
the English churches, and only one Quaker. 

In 1686 Pastorius built a small church for the use 
of all the people. In 1732 land was bought in the Square 
for a Reformed church, and during the following year 
a house of worship was built there. In 1738 a traveler 
from Holland wrote home: "At Germantown there is 
a fine church, but a miserable minister, a Quaker, 
indeed.'* Three years later Count Zinzendorf came to 
Philadelphia and preached in the church. 

The present church building is the third erected on 
the site. The congregation that worships here has been 
Presbyterian since 1856. 
214 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

Many relics are preserved in the church, among 
these being the original bell, cast in 1725, and the metal 
weather vane, which bears the marks of bullets. One 
of the treasured memories of the church is that Wash- 
ington frequently attended service here during his resi- 
dence in German town. 

Six squares farther on, at 6019 Main Street,' is the 
Green Tree Tavern, built in 1748 by Daniel and Sarah 
Pastorius. Here in early days driving and sleighmg 
parties used to come for the meals which made the 
hostelry famous. To-day the building is used by the 
First Methodist Church of Germantown for society 
meetings and similar gatherings. 

At the corner of Walnut Lane and Main Street is 
Wyck, the oldest house in Germantown. This is es- 
pecially interesting because it has undergone scarcely 
any change. It is really two houses joined together; 
the first of these dates from 1690. 

The Chew house, at the corner of Johnson Street, 
was at the central point of the Battle of Germantown. 
Behind the walls of this house some of the British sol- 
diers barricaded themselves, and the Americans were 
unable to drive them out, even after a fierce siege, 
whose marks may still be seen by the visitor. 

The burying ground of St. Michael's Lutheran 
Church, at Phil-Ellena Street, is the last resting place 
of the bodies of many of the famous men of early Penn- 
sylvania. One of these was Christopher Ludwig, on 
whose stone is the legend : 

He was bom at Giessen in Hesse D'Armstadt in 
Germany, and learned the Baker's Trade and business 

215 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

... in the year 1775, he came and settled in Philadel- 
phia, and by his industry at his trade and business 
acquired a handsome competency, part of which he 
devoted to the service of his adopted country in the 
Contest for the independence of America; was appointed 
Baker General to the Army, and for faithful services 
received a written Testimony from the Commander 
in Chief, George Washington . . . Reader, such was 
Ludwich. Art thou poor, venerate his character. Art 
thou rich. Imitate his example." 

When Christopher Ludwig was appointed by Con- 
gress, it was proposed that for every pound of flour 
given to him he should furnish the army with a pound 
of bread. "No, gentlemen," said he, "I will not accept 
of your commission upon any such terms. I do not 
wish to grow rich by the war: I have money enough. 
I will furnish one hundred and thirty-five pounds of 
bread for every one hundred pounds of flour you put 
into my hands." 

Half a mile from the Chestnut Hill station of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad the Germantown Road passes 
for the first time into the open country. 

Just after passing the tenth milestone is the en- 
trance to the Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, whose 
members do not know whether to be prouder of the fact 
that the golf course is 6,149 yards long, or of the knowl- 
edge that the views secured from the golf course are 
among the finest to be found on any club grounds 
anywhere. The club house was built in 1764, and, 
fortunately, it has not been essentially changed. 

Until within a year or two a house near the twelfth 
milestone reminded passing travelers of Robert Morris, 
216 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

the Revolutionary financier on whom Washington and 
Congress depended for funds. With remarkable self- 
effacement and marvelous success he raised the needed 
money when it seemed that there was no possible way 
to do this, pledging his own credit, enduring hardship, 
bearing without complaint the misconceptions of his 
countrymen, some of whom thought him anything but 
a patriot. After the Revolution he began to build on 
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, the marble palace des- 
tined never to be completed, to which the name Morris' 
Folly was given. His fortune was lost in land specula- 
tions, and he spent weary months in a debtors' prison. 
Many of the marble adornments of the house became 
part of the furnishings of other houses in and near the 
city. The owner of the house between the quarry and 
Plymouth Meeting secured possession of an exquisite 
marble lion, and this was placed triumphantly between 
the front door and the gate. For many decades this 
was treasured and admired. Then came tenants who 
did not appreciate the relic. Finally one occupant of 
the house decided that the lion would be improved by a 
coat of whitewash. No wonder that some descendant 
of the original owner rescued it from the low estate to 
which it had fallen, and carted it away to adorn a home 
where the marks of time are considered more fitting than 
whitewash. The foundation on which the Hon stood for a 
century may still be traced in the grass before the door. 
At Plymouth Meeting is a house before which the 
traveler feels like baring his head — the home of Thomas 
Hovenden, the lamented artist. Here he made his 
home after receiving his training in Paris, and here, 

217 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

in the picturesque studio at the rear of the house, he 
painted the picture "Breaking Home Ties." Visitors 
to the World's Fair at Chicago recall what a sensation 
was caused by this painting, and how every day people 
crowded about the canvas. It has been said that this 
is the most popular picture ever painted in America. 
The picture was finished in 1890, Four years later, 
in answer to an inquirer who wished to know how he 
came to paint it, he wrote: 

The idea was with me for several years before I 
commenced to paint it. I had in my mind the mother; 
that was almost the picture to me. I think I have 
succeeded pretty well in giving my idea of her — the 
human mother — as I have seen her in the country. I 
have been fortunate in seeing very many noble mothers, 
and my idea of them was what I tried to convey in the 
picture. I did think that to many a young man the 
picture could do nothing but good. 

In 1895 he was at work on "The Founding of the 
State." On August 14 he left his studio to go to Norris- 
town. Within sight of his own door he saw a little girl 
run in front of an approaching freight train. Thinking 
only of the child and of the parents to whom the child 
meant so much, he jumped to the track and grasped her. 
Both lives were lost. The artist was buried in the 
Orthodox section of Plymouth Meeting burying ground, 
just across the way. 

A little distance beyond the meeting house the road 
passes under the railroad tracks, which have been ele- 
vated since the accident that cost the life of the artist. 

After passing Hickorytown the trolley leaves the 
turnpike on the left and goes past the Plymouth Coun- 
218 



TiHE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

try Club, where Norristown residents delight to gather. 
Not far from the club house is an old butternut tree on 
which, so it is said, a British spy was hanged during the 
Revolution. 

Near the nineteenth milestone is a house that was 
long the home of David Rittenhouse, the astronomer. 
He was bom in the house built in 1707 by his grand- 
father, near the junction of Rittenhouse Street and 
Lincoln Drive in Germantown, not far from the site 
of the first paper mill in America, on Paper Mill Run, 
but he removed to the Germantown Road property 
when a boy. The house is partially hidden behind gnarled 
old trees and a great boxwood bush, the slip for 
which is said to have been brought from England by 
Benjamin Franklin. 

Franklin was a frequent visitor here, for he found 
a kindred spirit in the thoughtful Rittenhouse, who 
was never so happy as when he was making clocks or 
devising astronomical instruments or taking observa- 
tions of the heavens. Here the transit of Venus was 
observed on June 3, 1769, and here the two philosophers 
must have had many a talk about the things which they 
dreamed of discovering and devising for the good of 
their fellows in the colonies. 

The date stone on the right portion of the house 
bears the legend: 

R 

ME 
1749 

The letters stand for Rittenhouse, Matthias and 
Elizabeth. 

219 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Interest centers about the older rooms. The original 
boards are in the floors, and the two stairways are just 
as they were when Franklin visited Rittenhouse. These 
stairways are side by side, separated only by a parti- 
tion. The rear stair leads to the kitchen, one side of 
which is taken up by the wonderful old chimney, in 
which still hang the chain and hooks used in preparing 
the meals so long ago. 

The day came when William Rittenhouse was to 
be President of the Philosophical Society, Treasurer of 
Pennsylvania, and Director of the Mint. 

Perhaps his greatest service was rendered in 1763-67, 
for Mason and Dixon, who were sent from England to run 
a line between Delaware and Maryland, that disputes 
as to the boundaries might be settled. He was engaged 
to help them. His knowledge of astronomy enabled 
them to transfer the line from the map to the ground. 
The problem of greatest difficulty was the determina- 
tion of the arc of the circle centermg at New Castle, 
the first line of the kind ever run. This is the northern 
boundary of Delaware. One of the lines run at this 
time became known as the Mason and Dixon line. 
Later he made an orrery, an ingenious mechanical con- 
trivance by which he illustrated the movements of the 
heavenly bodies. There was keen rivalry between the 
University of Pennsylvania and the College of New 
Jersey (now Princeton University) for its possession. 
At length it went to Princeton, where it is still treasured. 

Perhaps it was while on his way along the German- 
town Road to the home of Rittenhouse that Franklin 
had the encounter of which Bernard tells: 
220 




N( )lilvl I I l\ I III -^1 \ I I ul \ \ I II 1 h( II, 1(p!(S 
iSfiir the nineteenth milestone 




Wllhlll. KWID RITTENHOUSE l.Ul.l) 

Npar the nineteenth milestone. From the lawn, in 1769, Rittenhouse and Franklin observed 
the transit of Venus 




THK iil.K I li M'I'I. I III Id i; 
Begun by Henry :\l.leliiur .MulileuLer^' lu 




THE PULPIT AND CORNER OF GALLERY, OLD TRAPPE CHURCH 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

When riding out one day he passed a farmer sitting 
listlessly by the roadside, his chin on his hand and his 
elbow on his knee. Taking this to be a very repre- 
hensible fit of laziness, he drew rein to expostulate, but 
the first glance at the rustic's face excited his pitying 
interest. Inquiring into his circumstances, he heard 
a sad history of failures in regard to land, implements, 
and live stock. The details convinced the Doctor of 
the man's industry, but seemed to throw doubt on his 
knowledge. "Have you read any of my books, my 
friend?" said he. "I am Dr. Franklin." At the name 
the man looked up eagerly, but the next moment re- 
lapsed into his former apathy, as if completely heart- 
broken. " Oh, yes. Doctor," he replied, *' I've read your 
Almanacs — I've worked by 'em, and slept upon 'em, 
I and my wife and all my boys. But I don't see the 
good of it; none of your sayings have come true." 
"No?" exclaimed Franklin; "now which do you mean 
in particular?" "Why, don't you remember. Doctor, 
where you say, 'A light hand makes a heavy pocket.' 
'He who runs in youth may lie down in old age.' 'In- 
dustry must prosper,' and all that? Now here have I 
been sinking deeper and deeper instead of getting on, 
work as I would." "Humph!" rejoined Franklin, "it 
strikes me, my friend, that where I say 'Industry must 
prosper,' there is a note at the bottom to explain." 
"A note? I don't recollect any note." "Then it is 
very likely your copy is an imperfect one; many of my 
first editions were; so to-morrow I'll send you a proper 
one I have at home, and, if you'll take the trouble to 
look over it you will find under the line ' Industry must 
prosper' a note which throws further light on the sub- 
ject." The Doctor then bade him good-day and rode 
on. The next morning a packet was brought to the 
farmer's door containing the Almanac as promised, 
and after thumbing a few pages he found the line. 

221 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Sure enough, beneath it was an explanatory note — 
being one for twenty dollars on the Philadelphia Bank. 

On Sunday Franklin sometimes went with Ritten- 
house to the Norriton Presbyterian Church, whose 
site was a little comer out of the Rittenhouse estate 
on the Germantown road. When Matthias Ritten- 
house purchased the farm, he found the church there. 
He was a Mennonite, but in 1737 he deeded the property 
to the trustees of the church. The contract entered into 
was between "Matthias Rittenhausen and Eliza- 
beth, his wife, of the township of Norrington, County 
of Philadelphia," and "ye said Presbyterian Profes- 
sion of ye township aforesaid," conveying 72 pole of 
land "for a meeting house and graveyard for ye use 
of ye said Presbyterian Profession of ye township afore- 
said, . . . for and in consideration of one silver crown." 
This transfer was but the fifth since the property left 
the possession of William Penn. 

The church bears a remarkable resemblance to St. 
David's church at Radnor, though it has no gallery 
entrance. It was probably built in 1698. The cemetery 
indicates that it was used at least as early as 1700. The 
date stone was destroyed during repairs many years ago. 

Over the antique windows are substantial arches of 
stone, and in the rear wall are two small windows, in- 
tended to afford light for the pulpit. Unfortunately 
a fire in 1903 destroyed most of the interior. However, 
a few relics may be seen. The great wooden lock in 
the door is one of these. One of the original collection 
boxes is treasured in a cabinet on the wall. 

The building was used as a hospital during the Revo- 

222 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

lution, and Washington visited it in 1778. Bloodstains 
may be seen on one of the window sills; no cleaner has 
been able to remove them. In 1785 the Assembly passed 
an act permitting the church to hold a lottery to re- 
pair damages. 

In early days the windows in the gables caused so 
much trouble that they were later filled in with stone; 
probably gravestones were taken for the purpose. This 
is supposed to be the explanation* of the absence of 
stones from almost all the old graves. There is one 
notable exception. A workman who was quarrying 
stone when the church was built was killed by a fall- 
ing slab. The slab covers his grave in the cemetery. 

Over one grave is written the grandiloquent mes- 
sage: 

No display of words can add to the charm of that 
elegant mind and amiable disposition, which was thus 
early lost to the world; and the worth which adorned 
them will long be remembered without the aid of praise 
and eulogy. 

On another stone is this sentiment: 

Death, thou hast conquered me, 
I by thy Dart am slain; 
But Christ will conquer thee. 
And I shall rise again. 

In the neighborhood are other buildings that boast 

of Revolutionary memories. In the house across the 

road from the church, one of Washington's officers 

came to do his courting. Just beyond is a house whose 

date stone may be seen by one who makes a close 

inspection of the bricks near the kitchen door. 

" W Dean, May 4, 1758," is the legend. On the top of 

223 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the Jhill beyond, Fairview Hill, is Fairview Inn, which 
proudly proclaims the date 1732 on its signboard. 
Across the way is one of the numerous houses where, 
so it is claimed, Washington ate a meal, while down 
from the field, back of the house, pickets were stationed. 

From Fairview Hill it is but a short distance by 
the Fairview road to Methacton Mennonite Meeting 
House. In the cemetery at this rear of the church is 
the last resting place of Christopher Sauer, one of the 
most useful men in Colonial Pennsylvania, and one 
of the most unfortunate. 

He prospered greatly until the Revolution. Then 
came disaster. He v/as a true patriot, but he was a 
Mennonite, and his religion forbade him to take the 
oath of allegiance to the Colonies. Because of his re- 
fusal he was looked on as a Tory, and there were those 
who wished to make information against him that they 
might seize his property. 

On May 24, 1778, a party of soldiers took him' from 
bed and started with him to Valley Forge, just as he 
was, in his night clothes, bareheaded and barefooted. 
It was a cruel trip. He had been at Valley Forge sev- 
eral days when Washington, who was an old friend, 
saw him. "Why, Mr. Sauer! How do you look!" was 
the General's greeting. "Just as your people made 
me," the Mennonite preacher replied. Thereupon 
Washington made inquiries, dismissed the charge that 
he was "an oppressor of the righteous and a spy," and 
clothed him. He would have sent him back to German- 
town, but this he was unable to do. So he gave him 
a pass which read: 

224 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

Permit the bearer hereof, Mr. Sauer, to pass to 
Metatchy, not to return to Germantown during the 
stay of the army in this State. 

In Methacton, Conrad Stamm gave to Sauer and 
his daughter a hut in which to Hve. He was unable to 
look after his property, which was seized and dissipated, 
but remained in Methacton until his death in 1784. 
He preached almost to the end of his hfe. Everywhere 
he was welcome, for he was Bishop of the Church of 
the Brethren. 

There is a tablet to his memory in the Church of 
the Brethren at 6613 Main Street, Germantown, the 
mother church of this sect in America. But his body 
rests in Methacton burying ground. The grave is close 
to the rear wall, directly back of the meeting house. 
The inscription on the flat stone is: 

Time hastens on the Hour 
The just shall rise and Sing. 
O Grave Where is thy Power 
O Death Where is thy Sting. 

Another interesting cemetery is near the twenty- 
second milestone on the Germantown Road, across 
the way from St. James' Episcopal Church. The date 
in the gable of the church building is 1721. In the bury- 
ing ground is a boulder marking the spot where one 
hundred Revolutionary soldiers are buried. Near by 
is a stone whose inscription reads: 

A life of pain I long endured 

But when Death Came my wound was cured. 

The Doctors' skill was all in vain 

They Nare could ease me of my pain. 

225 



/ 

15 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Just before the great stone bridge on the Perkio- 
men is crossed the Ridge Road and the Germantown 
Road come together. Collegeville, which Hes on the 
far side of the bridge, has long been an educational 
center. Here were Loveland Hall, a school for boys, 
and Glenwood Hall, said to have been the first school 
for girls in the country; these united to form Ur sinus 
College, whose stately buildings may be seen on the 
campus on the left. 

Beyond Collegeville and joining it is Trappe. The 
settlement was first called Landau by the man who 
divided it into town lots, but the place was given a 
new name. Dr. Muhlenberg told the story of the re- 
christening. John Jacob Shrack came here in 1717. 
With his son he built a cabin and a cave. In the cave 
the men cooked. They kept a small shop and a tavern. 
Once an English resident who had been drinking in the 
cave fell asleep, and came home late. His wife scolded 
him. He excused himself by saying he had been in the 
trap. From this time the neighborhood was called 
Trapp. At a public meeting held in February, 1835, 
it was decided that the name should be Trappe. 

In Trappe is St. Luke's Reformed Church, founded 
in 1755 and built in 1835, but this is overshadowed 
by the old Lutheran church, across the street, at the 
rear of the lot, built in 1743. 

On December 12, 1742, Henry Melchior Muhlen- 
berg held his first service in Trappe in a barn. Soon 
afterward it was decided to build a church of stone, 
" 54 schuh long bei 37 schuh breit." (The German schuh, 
for foot, is still used in some parts of Pennsylvania.) 
226 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

The new building was to cost £200. The plans were 
sent to Germany for approval, and £115 was given 
there for the project. During one whole winter all 
the people worked preparing material. Men hauled 
stone, and children helped by splitting and shaving the 
oak shingles. 

At the consecration of the church, on October 6, 
1743, Mr. Pawling, Church Warden of St. James at 
Evansburg, presented three negroes for baptism, 
saying thatj "Dutch baptism is good enough for 
blacks." 

The church is the oldest unaltered Lutheran church 
in America. In 1860, however, it was in grave danger. 
A storm had torn off the roof. The people, who were 
in debt for the new building, thought this an "excuse 
for resigning it to the desolation which the hand of 
Providence has already begun." Fortunately there 
were those who thought of making an appeal to the 
descendants of Dr. Muhlenberg in New York. This 
was done successfully, and the building was pre- 
served. 

The interior furnishings are identically the same as 
when the church was first opened. Worms have de- 
stroyed part of a few of the planks, but their ravages 
have been arrested. Among the features of the build- 
ing that attract notice are the pulpit, with its sounding 
board and folding seat for the minister; the gallery, 
supported by squared oak pillars, painted and grained 
to represent marble; the seats in the gallery, put to- 
gether with oak pins, which rise like bleachers in the 
baseball field; the pews with doors on the floor; the 

227 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

"seats of the mighty" facing the pulpit, with their 
ornate door hinges; the numbers, indicating sittings, 
burnt into the backs of the pews; the ponderous lock 
and key; the case of the first pipe organ in the colony, 
whose pipes have all been taken as souvenirs. 

Dr. Muhlenberg married in 1745 and built a house 
further down the road on which the church faces. 
This house was burned years ago, but the walls are 
part of the present house. The pastor built a second 
house some years later; this stands on the main road, 
on the right, toward Collegeville, a short distance from 
the church. 

Dr. Muhlenberg was a faithful pastor. Up and 
down the main road and the many cross roads he trav- 
eled among his people. "Frequently the roads, the 
river, the storm, the cold, the snow, the weather are 
such that one would not like to drive the dog out of 
the house," he wrote at one time, "yet the pastor must 
go his rounds. God in His mercy often saved me in 
most imminent danger, and preserved my poor bones 
when horse and rider fell." 

The salary promised to him was equal to $106.66. 
But this was not paid in full. "My clothes during the 
first and second years were so totally worn out by my 
constant travelling," the doctor wrote, "that I had to 
contract a debt of sixteen pounds to buy under- 
clothing and other garments." Yet he did not com- 
plain. He said of the people, "They do not know 
how to make their good-will toward me sufiSciently 
manifest." 

Dr. Muhlenberg is buried back of the church, within 
228 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

a few feet of the pulpit. By his side rests his son, 
General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, who was or- 
dained in 1769. Later he was pastor at Woodstock, 
Virginia. There, during the stirring days before the 
beginning of the Revolution, he concluded a sermon 
to his people by saying, "There is a time to preach, 
and a time to pray; there is also a time to fight, and 
that time has now come." As he spoke he threw aside 
his gown, and stood before his awed congregation 
garbed in his colonial uniform. 

Near him in the burying ground lies the body of 
"Margaret, wife of George Moses, born July 5, 1750, 
died November 21, 1854, aged 104 years." She is a fit 
neighbor to General Muhlenberg, for when her husband 
was called to the war, while he was shingling his new 
bam, she climbed to the roof and completed the work. 
She was a relative of William Hurry, keeper of the 
State House in Philadelphia, and doorkeeper while 
Congress was in session, who rang the bell when the 
Declaration of Independence was signed. 

Six days after the battle of Brandywine Washing- 
ton's army marched from the ferry over the Schuylkill 
four miles to Trappe, coming out on the main road 
above the church. On September 17 Dr. Muhlenberg 
with his telescope could see the British camp across the 
river. All night the American army moved past the 
old church to the Perkiomen, one regiment at midnight 
encamping on the bare ground in front of Dr. Muhlen- 
berg's house. 

During the next four weeks the church was used as 

barracks, and then as a hospital. On October 5 Wash- 

229 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

ington entered the church and cheered the wounded and 
dying. 

For some reason the British feared Dr. Muhlen- 
berg. On December 11, 1777, he wrote in his diary: 
"I am informed that the British threaten to capture 
me and wreak vengeance." Later he was told that the 
British threatened him with torture, prison and death, 
"if we can catch the old fellow." 

Soldiers were not the only travelers on the turnpike 
during the troubled days of the Revolution. Once, 
when Howe threatened Philadelphia, people fled in 
numbers out this road. One day Dr. Muhlenberg wrote 
in his diary, "To-day many teams loaded with furni- 
ture and people flying from Philadelphia have passed 
the town." Six days later he said, "During the whole 
day wagons have been passing with goods, and men, 
women and children flying from Philadelphia." After 
the battle of Brandy wine he wrote, "A disturbed 
Sunday. Coaches, chaises and wagons loaded with 
fugitives, passing without intermission." 

Once, after Isaac R. Pennypacker had visited the 
old Trappe church, and had saturated himself with the 
memories and the traditions of the spot, he wrote his 
poem, "The Trapp," which Longfellow includes in his 
"Poems of Places": 

And it seemed that a breath of a spirit. 

Like a zephyr at cool of the day. 
Passed o'er us and then we could hear it 

In the loft through the organ pipes' play. 
All the aisle and the chancel seemed haunted, 
And weird anthems by voices were chanted. 
Where dismantled the organ pipes lay. 
230 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

Came the warrior who robed as a colonel 

Led his men to fight from the prayer. 
And the pastor who tells in his journal 

What he saw in the sunlight's bright glare. 
How a band of wild troopers danced under 
While the organ was pealing its thunder 
In gay tunes on the sanctified air. 
Then came the days of peace, when soldiers dis- 
appeared from the turnpike and travelers took their 
place. Jacob Heebner was one of the early drivers of 
stages who became noted as an expert in drawing the 
reins over his coach and four. When on duty he al- 
ways wore a corduroy suit and a short coat called a 
roundabout. His route extended from Pottstown to 
the Trappe, and on to Norristown. 

Other users of the road were teamsters who trans- 
ported pig iron from Reading and Pottsville to Phila- 
delphia. 

The first forge and furnace was built at Pottsville, 
nine miles from Trappe, in 1800. In 1804 John Pott 
bought the ground on which the town was laid out in 
1816. At the time the main road was in a fearful condi- 
tion whenever the weather was bad. As late as 1830 
several women in Pottsville sent a letter to a local 
paper asking for a plank sidewalk, since they had not 
been able to go to church for several months because 
the mud was so deep. 

It is evident that Pottsville was noted more in early 
days for railroad construction than for road improve- 
ment. In 1826 and 1827 John Pott built a railroad 
half a mile long from the Schuylkill to a point in Black 

Valley. His purpose was to transport coal from the 

231 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

mine to the river. Before this, transportation had been 
by wagon. The road was equipped with wooden rails 
laid on wooden sills. Horses drew the cars. This road 
was begun the same year as the pioneer road from 
Granite Quarries to Quincy, Massachusetts, usually 
known as the pioneer road of America. 

In 1828 or 1829 the Board of Directors of the Schuyl- 
kill Canal came up to look at the road. They were sur- 
prised to see a train of thirteen cars, each loaded with 
one and a half tons of coal, drawn to the canal by horses. 
Mr. Pott assured them that in less than ten years they 
would find that a railroad along the bank of the Schuyl- 
kill from Philadelphia to the coal region would be com- 
peting with the canal in the transportation of coal. 
They told him he was crazy. The prophecy was not 
quite accurate, for while the new road was begun in 
1835, its completion was delayed until 1842 by the 
building of a tunnel at Port Chester. 

Eighteen miles from Pottsville is Reading. The 
town was laid out in 1748. William Penn's sons, Thomas 
and Richard, who were responsible for the town, named 
it for Reading, England. In 1750 there was but one 
house in the place, but in 1757 there were 130 dwellings, 
106 families and 378 people. 

The early residents communicated frequently with 
Philadelphia, though there was no regular stage line 
until 1789. Martin Hanna was the driver of this pio- 
neer line. He made weekly trips and charged two dol- 
lars for the trip. Letters were carried for threepence. 
The round trip was made in two days. William Cole- 
man became the owner of the line in 1791, and for 

232 



THE OLD GERMANTOWN ROAD 

seventy years the Coleman family was identified with 
staging in and about Reading. 

The road to Perkiomen was begun in 1810 and was 
completed in 1814. Thus the travelers to Philadel- 
phia and the farmers who sought Reading with their 
produce were given better facilities. 

Mayor William Stable, who wrote a description of 
the Borough of Reading, in 1841, waxed eloquent as he 
told of these farmers: 

"Up in the morning early!" is the song of the 
blith country women to the sleepy citizens of Reading, 
as they make their midnight entry into town, well pre- 
pared and eager for the Strife of trade. 

The author said that those who got up in the morn- 
ing early to buy from the early travelers along the roads 
leading into Reading needed to keep their eyes open, 
for it was found necessary to have a clerk of the market, 
who, by a special ordinance of the Borough, "is directed 
to keep a sharp eye on all balls of butter purporting 
to be a pound weight." 

Mayor Stable concluded his book by saying, "Final- 
ly, reader, my task is done, and thine also; if not, a sec- 
ond perusal is modestly recommended: and now, from 
famine, floods, and folly, may Providence and pru- 
dence preserve thee." 



233 



IX 
THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

THE trip out the Bethlehem road might be called 
A Revolutionary Pilgrimage. The traveler finds 
himself on historic ground at once, and the 
memories of Washington and his brave men persist 
as he goes on his way. 

The start is made from the Pennsylvania station in 
Chestnut Hill. Here the Bethlehem Road joins the 
German town Road. The first part of the road offers 
opportunity for a leisurely day's tramp, or the cars of 
the Lehigh Valley Transit Company may be taken, 
for these keep close to the road as far as Ambler; or 
the entire route from Chestnut Hill to Bethlehem, forty- 
three miles, may be covered delightfully by automobile. 

At the foot of the long hill near the beginning of 
the road is the Wheel Pump Inn, where British officers 
frequently gathered in the days when the armies of 
Great Britain and America faced each other at White- 
marsh. The inn gets its name from the curious wheel 
by which water is raised for thirsty horses. 

At the corner of Church Lane, near the milestone 
marked twelve and one-half, is the entrance to the 
road leading to old St. Thomas' Church. The hill on 
which the church stands was one of the hills in the 
Whitemarsh (Widemarsh) Valley, where Washington 
in 1777 proved ^himself a master of military tactics, 
and held at bay Howe with his threatening force. 

234 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

This became famous as Church Hill; to the left is 
Barren Hill, and to the right is Camp Hill. Militia Hill 
and Fort Hill were other points of importance. 

Church Hill was part of a hill known to the Indians 
as Umbilicamence, as appears from a letter written by 
William Penn to his Surveyor General, Thomas Holme, 
in 1683. This letter told of the settling in this neigh- 
borhood of the widow and children of Jaspar Farmar, 
an Irishman who died while he was corresponding with 
Penn about coming to America. They came to Phila- 
delphia in the ship Bristol Merchant in 1685, accom- 
panied by forty servants and dependents. 

Edward • Farmar, one of the sons, used to gather 
about him on Sundays all who would attend, and read 
to them the services of the Church of England. A few 
years later, certainly before 1700, a small log cabin 
was built for the use of these gatherings of neighbors; 
this was located near the center of the present church- 
yard. Here Mr. Farmar continued to hold services 
until a stone building was erected in 1710. For one 
hundred and seven years the building was the home 
of the congregation, and scores of members were buried 
in the churchyard surrounding the edifice. 

In 1718 a rector from England took charge of the 
church, and also of Oxford Church, near Cheltenham. 
To facilitate the passage of the devoted rector from 
one parish to the other, the members in 1734 built a 
road ten miles long, known even now as the Church 
Road. This road used to pass over the site of the pres- 
ent rectory. 

235 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

One of the famous pastors of this church was Rev. 
Slator Clay, who had a remarkable career. During 
the Revolution he went to the West Indies with a 
friend who was a sea captain. When the vessel was 
captured by a British privateer, Mr. Clay was put 
ashore on the island of Antigua with only one piece of 
money in his possession. After a time he took passage 
in a vessel bound for New York, which was then occu- 
pied by the British. The sailors mutinied, and the 
vessel was later cast on Bermuda Rocks. After teach- 
ing school at Bermuda for six years, he returned to 
Philadelphia in 1786. A few months later he married 
the widow of Isaac Hughes of Poplar Lane on the 
Gulph Road. Within a year he was ordained deacon 
in Christ Church, Philadelphia. In 1790 he began his 
pastorate at St. Thomas'. 

During the Revolutionary War the church services 
were suspended, and Church Hill was on three occa- 
sions occupied by military forces, first by the Americans 
after the Battle of Germantown, second by a body of 
the Hessian cavalry, and third by British officers under 
Lord Howe. The church itself was greatly defaced 
and damaged, and finally almost destroyed by fire. 
On one occasion it was used as a fort, when guns were 
planted in the windows and fired upon the retreating 
Americans. The gravestones, many of which were 
long, flat pieces of slate or marble resting upon four 
small posts, or pillars, received rough treatment. Fires 
were lighted under them, and they were used as cook- 
ing ranges. Some of the upright stones became marks 
for target practice. Two or three of the most ancient 

236 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

tombstones in the churchyard to-day have evidently 
been chipped by bullets. 

On the day after the Battle of Germantown, fought 
on the third and fourth of October, 1777, the defeated 
American army retired to Church Hill. Of this move- 
ment General Anthony Wayne wrote: 

The troops who took the upper road formed at 
Whitemarsh Church under General Stephen. It was 
thought advisable to remain here some time to collect 
stragglers from the army. But the enemy made their 
appearance with a party of light horse and from 1,500 
to 2,000 infantry, with two field pieces. The troops 
were ordered off, while I covered the rear with some 
infantry and Colonel Butler's dragoons, but, finding 
the enemy determined to push us hard, I obtained from 
General Stephen some field pieces and took advantage 
of a hill which overlooked the road upon which the 
enemy were marching. They met with such a recep- 
tion that they were induced to retire over the bridge, 
which they had just passed, and gave up further pursuit. 

After the Revolution seven years passed before ser- 
vices were resumed. In 1786 it was decided to repair 
the building. From that time there has been no inter- 
ruption in the life of the church. The old building was 
enlarged in 1817, and in 1868 it was decided to build 
the present edifice. 

Among the stones in the churchyard is the marble 
slab above the body of Edward Farmar. This origi- 
nally stood in the north aisle of the church. Later build- 
ings were erected a little to one side. Since that time 
the Farmar tomb has been in the open. 

A curious epitaph records: 

237 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

here Lyeth the 
body of iames 
allison, who departed 
this life October 
the 2 1729 
aged 45 years 

On the face of the stone is a strange design — a 
rude head, surmounting a pair of wings, beneath which 
are the conventional crossbones. 

Another stone says: 

Life is a cheat 
And always show it, 
I thought so once, 
And now I know it. 

On the summit of Camp Hill is the Van Rensselaer 
Mansion. On this estate is the old burial plot of Nich- 
olas Scull, who came to America with the Farmars in 
1685. His son became Surveyor General of the Prov- 
ince and laid out many of the old roads. Some of the 
most famous of the early maps are known by his name. 

Not far from the gates of Camp Hill is the entrance, 
through a white gate on the left, to the ground of Emlen 
House, owned by Emlen Devereux, where Washington 
had his headquarters during the Whitemarsh campaign. 
Additions and improvements have been made to the 
house, but the outline of the original mansion can still 
be traced. The old moat beyond the house gives variety 
to the picture. 

From November 2 to December 11, 1777, when" the 
army left for Gulph Mills and Valley Forge, Washing- 
ton here kept open house to his generals. Sally Wister, 
238 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

in her Journal, has told many incidents of this sojourn. 
One of the most important events of those days was 
the Council of War held on the evening of November 24, 
1777, when Washington and his associates considered 
the question of making an immediate attack on the 
enemy in Philadelphia. The attack was not made, for 
eleven officers were opposed to the movement, while 
but four favored it. 

General Washington's Orderly Book throws in- 
teresting light on the events of these days at Emlen. 
For instance, there is the record of November 7, 1777: 

Since the General left Germantown, in the middle 
of September last, he has been without his baggage, 
and on that account is unable to receive company in 
the manner he could wish. He nevertheless desires the 
Generals, Field Officers and Brigade-Major of the day 
to dine with him in the future at three o'clock in the 
afternoon. 

Two weeks later this fact was recorded: 

The Commander in Chief oflfers a reward of ten 
dollars to any person, who shall by nine o'clock on Mon- 
day morning produce the best substitute for shoes, 
made of raw hides. The Commissary of hides and the 
Major-General of the day, are to judge of the essays 
and assign the reward to the best artist. 

Fortunately there have come down to us glimpses 
of the lives of the private soldiers during these days of 
waiting. Elijah Faber, a Yankee private, kept a journal 
while he was at Whitemarsh. In this he said: 

We had no pots nor anithing to Cook our Provi- 
sions in, and that was Porty Poor, for beef was very 
leen and no salt, nor any way to cook it but to throw it 

239 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

on the cole and brile it; and the water we had to drink 
and mix our flower with was out of a brook that run 
along by the Camp, and so many a dippien and washin 
(in) it which maid it very Dirty and Muddy. 

Then there is the story of a private not over sixteen 
years old, who was homesick. His companions teased 
him. One day he lost patience and threatened to 
thrash his persecutor. He was winner after a long and 
severe contest. The soldiers talked about it, and the 
captain finally heard of it. The officer promptly as- 
sembled the company and ordered the guilty men to 
step forward. Then he looked at them sharply. They 
hung their heads for shame. The officer made known 
his sentence: "You are ordered for punishment to drink 
together a mug of cider!" 

The waiting army at Whitemarsh was saved from 
what might have been dire disaster by the presence of 
mind and bravery of Lydia Darragh, who lived at this 
period in a house at Second and Little Dock streets, 
below Spruce street, in Philadelphia. On the evening 
of December 2, 1777, British officers used this house for 
a consultation. Lydia, from a closet where she was 
hidden, overheard the plan to surprise Washington 
within two or three days. On the evening of December 
4 she carried an empty bag out Front street to the Ger- 
mantown Road, presented a pass to the British picket, 
then hurried out the Frankford Road to Frankford 
Creek. There, at the mill, she left the sack which had 
been her excuse for coming from Philadelphia. 

From the mill she went by the Nicetown Lane, to 
seek the American outpost at Rising Sun Tavern, cor- 
240 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

ner of Twelfth street and Germantown Road. She was 
nearly there when she met Colonel Thomas Craig, 
whom she knew. To him she gave the information she 
had overheard. The Colonel took her to a house near 
by and hurried in search of General Boudinot. In the 
mean time Lydia, it is conjectured, wrote out her story, 
placed it in an old needle book, and sent it to General 
Boudinot by the old woman to whom she had been 
taken. General Boudinot told of receiving the message : 

In the autumn of 1777 the American army lay some 
time at Whitemarsh. I was the commissary general of 
provisions, and managed the intelligence of the army. 
I was reconnoitering along the lines near the city of 
Philadelphia. I dined at a small post out the Rising 
Sun, about three miles from the city. After dinner a 
little, poor-looking, insignificant old woman came up 
and solicited leave to go into the country to buy some 
flour. While we were asking some questions she walked 
up to me and put into my hand a duly old needlebook 
with various small pockets in it. Surprised at this, I 
told her to retire, she should have an answer. On open- 
ing the needlebook I could not find anything till I got 
to the last pocket, when I found a piece of paper, rolled 
up into the form of a pipe shank. On unrolling it I 
found information that General Howe was coming out 
the next morning, with 5000 men, 10 pieces of cannon, 
baggage wagons, and 11 boats on wheels. On compar- 
ing this with other information, I found it true and im- 
mediately rode post to headquarters. 

It was his judgment that the JBritish intended to 
cross the Delaware and return immediately, to surprise 
Washington in the rear. But the general insisted that 
the boats would be intended merely as a blind; that 

16 241 



OLD ROADS OUT OF. PHILADELPHIA 

the real purpose of the British would be to approach 
by a certain road. General Boudinot thought that the 
general was in error, but the result showed that his 
judgment was correct. "I then said that I would never 
set up my judgment against his," the narrator told of 
his wise determination. 

The British advanced as Lydia had said they would, 
but the preparations made by Washington were effec- 
tive. For several days they encamped on Chestnut 
Hill; then they returned to the city. 

Having delivered her message, Lydia Darragh re- 
turned to the mill, filled her sack, and walked back to 
Philadelphia. 

Doubt has been thrown on this story by careful his- 
torians, but a publication of the City History Society 
of Philadelphia, dated 1916, presents thorough and 
circumstantial proof of its truth. 

In the immediate neighborhood, beyond St. Thomas* 
Church, is wonderful old Hope Lodge, built in 1721 by 
Samuel Morris, son of Morris Morris, who was for 
many years justice of the peace in Whitemarsh and an 
overseer of Plymouth Meeting. The name Hope Lodge 
was given to the property to mark the reconciliation 
between Henry Hope and James Horatio Watmough. 
Soon after the house was left to Watmough, with a re- 
mainder to Henry Hope, in 1784, the men quarreled, 
and when they were once more on good terms the prop- 
erty was deeded by Watmough to Hope. To-day the 
house is occupied by George J. Wentz, in whose family 
it has been for eighty-seven years. 

While the house is dignified in appearance, there is 
242 




THE WKXrZ FARM HOUSE, 1804, NEAR ST. THOMAS' CHURCH 




c^ ■^* . , 



HOPE LODGE, WHITEMARSH, 17-' I 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

nothing especially impressive about the exterior. But 
the interior is a marvel. The wonderful wainscotings 
and panelings were imported from England. The 
old mantels, the Dutch tiles, the floors, the massive 
doors and locks, the H and L hinges hold the eye. The 
staircase is a thing of beauty, and the method of light- 
ing it is most unusual. 

There is a tradition that the attic room was intended 
to be the home of the first Masonic Lodge in Pennsyl- 
vania, and that the preliminary meetings of Fort Wash- 
ington Lodge were held here. The wide stairway to 
this attic chamber is a notable feature of the house. 
When Samuel Morris built the house he planned it 
for^his bride, but he lived and died a bachelor. There 
is a story that a brutal remark made in the presence 
of the girl he hoped to marry, on the evening of the 
housewarming, was responsible for her refusal to be- 
come his bride. 

During the Revolution Washington sometimes en- 
tered the mansion, though not on invitation, for the 
owner was a Royalist. 

A tablet by the roadside a short distance beyond 
Hope Lodge tells of other movements of Washington 
and his army during the weeks he spent in the locality. 
Near by is what remains of Fort Washington. 

The famous Skippack Road joins the turnpike near 
the foot of Church Hill. This road, one of the oldest 
in the vicinity of Philadelphia, having been laid out 
by Hendrick Pannebecker in 1713, was frequently 
named in Washington's orderly book, for many move- 
ments of his army were made along its course. When 

243 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the soldiers marched this way from Whitemarsh to- 
ward Valley Forge, British cannon on Church Hill were 
fired after them. 

Within a mile of the beginning of the Skippack 
Road is the entrance to stately Highlands, a mansion 
of the Later Georgian period, as Hope Lodge is a rep- 
resentative of the Early Georgian. 

Anthony Morris, the builder of Highlands, was bom 
in 1766. In 1793, as speaker of the state senate, he 
signed the bill calling for troops to suppress the whiskey 
rebellion. For this reason the Meeting of which he 
was a member dismissed him. In 1796 he built the 
mansion, but retained it for only twelve years. In 
1808 he sold the estate to a man named Hitner. In 
1813 George Sheaff secured it, and for more than one 
hundred years it has been in the same family. John 
D. T. Sheaff, who died in the house in 1915, at the age 
of 96 (in the same room in which he was bom), was a son 
of George Sheaff. 

There are but two disappointing features in the inte- 
rior of the house. The original mantels were replaced 
perhaps fifty years ago by modem marble atrocities. 
Then the stair railing was never completed. For more 
than a generation a scaffolding stood in the stair well, 
except when there was a funeral; then it was removed, 
to be replaced immediately. On the landing, for fifty 
years has stood a crated newel post of impossible design. 
Fortunately this was never put in place. 

The family portrait gallery in the spacious hall con- 
tains some good pictures by Thomas Sully. At the 
far end is Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, the first 

244 




DOORWAY, THE HIGHLANDS 




DA\\'i;sFn;i.i). \k\h hi.i i, iu.i.l. hn ini: sKii'i'\(K imki 

Washington's l]fiui<|uarliTs froui Ot-tuher -il lo November -J. 1777. .Now tlie home ot 
Mr. George J. Cooke 




■rui'; ri;iii; w i'.n iv. uovsio, 17.">S, nkaw cKN'riu; i'i>i\r 




■riUO FOX'hKK UUllSK, PKNl.LYN 

Tho ooiittT porliou. wliii'li was built in 1710, wiis oiTupioil by Siillio ^Vi•;l^■r wticu slu- wrolo l\or 
f:um>iis Uiiivy. Now Iho hoiiso of iNlr. Kilwiud ,1. I'orsliiui,' 



THE ROAD TO BETITLEHEM 

Speaker of Con^^resH. Tlicn come hm ehildren, Henry 
W. :in<\ ArifKi (]:t\}i<:nn<;. \l<-j\ry rrjarriefJ Mary Sheaff, 
while Anrir; murricd Mary'.s firolijftr (ji<-Ajri.r/t, who hou^fjf. 
the mansion in 1813, The portraits of all of the.se are 
on the walls. 

Farther alon^^ theSkippaekTU^ad is Bluet Bell, where 
John J*fiilif> Boeljrn, a (/<:rrnarj .seljoolrrj aster, Ix-.i/jm 
preaching to a eongregatiorj <A hJ s eountryrrjen. 'i'he 
first ehureh was }>ijilt a short distanee from the village, 
to the right of the road. 'i"h(; present building was 
erected in 1818, though many alterations have hf;en 
made in it. "Jlie original ef)urf:}j v/as uned as a hospital 
for Genf^ral Weedon's hrig.'ide after the Battle of 0<;r- 
mantown. From Oetoher ^i tf> Novemljer 2 the army 
was encamped in the vicinity of Jilue Bell. 

Washington had his headquarU*rs at Dawesfield, 
the home of ./am(;s Morris, a short distance from the 
main road, east of l>lue Bell, "^ihis house is now the 
home of George J. Cook, a Philadelphia hanker. 7'he 
oldest part was built in 17'i0, tliough additions were 
made in 1785 and 1821. The chief attraction is the 
room just above the main entrance, wPiich was occupied 
by Washington. Attached to the bedstead in a jjlate 
hearing this inscription: 

General Washington slept in this 
Bedstead during the Encampment at 
Whitpain. "Headquarters at James 
Morris's." October 21st to 
November 2d, 1777. 

Dawesfield is famou.s as the scene of the court mar- 
tial of General Anthony Wayne, held at his request 

245 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

because of charges made against him as a result of the 
PaoH Massacre. General Wayne was acquitted with 
honor. 

Another Washington headquarters is not far from 
Center Point, and half a mile from the Skippack, on 
the road to Lansdale. This is a fine old brown stone 
farmhouse built in 1758, by Peter Wentz. Here Wash- 
ington stopped after the Battle of Germantown, oc- 
cupying two rooms in the west corner of the house. 
In the first story room he took his meals, and he slept 
and wrote in a large square room above. Here, on 
October 16, 1777, he penned a message to Congress, re- 
ferring to the Battle of Saratoga: 

It is with the highest satisfaction that I congratulate 
Congress on the success of our armies at the North- 
ward, an event of the most interesting importance at 
this juncture. From the happy train in which things 
were then, I hope we shall soon hear of the more de- 
cisive advantage. We moved this morning from the 
encampment at which we had been for six or seven 
days past, and are just arrived at the grounds we occu- 
pied before the action of the 4th. 

During Washington's stay at the Wentz house 
some of his soldiers camped in the woodland northeast 
of the house. In the rear of the barn two soldiers are 
buried. 

The date stone, bearing the initials of Peter Wentz 
and his wife Rosanna, is easily seen. Below the initials 
are the lines : 

Jesu komm in Mein Haus 

Weig nimmer mer haraus; 

Kom mit deine Gnadenguet 

Und stelle meine selzu fried. 

246 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

Or, freely translated: 

Jesus, come into my house. 
Never to leave again; 
Come with thy blessed favor. 
And bring peace to my soul. 

•Tradition says that before coming to Pennsylvania, 
Peter Wentz was a wild sea rover, and that he com- 
manded a privateer. After buying the 940 acre farm on 
which he erected the house he reformed and became 
an earnest Dunker. 

For more than one hundred and twenty years the 
house has been in the possession of the Schultz family. 

Six miles beyond Center Point is perhaps the most 
historic spot on the Skippack, Pennypacker's Mills 
at Schwenksville, the home of the late Samuel W. 
Pennypacker. Mr. Pennypacker lived in a house built 
in 1720 by Hans Yost Heijt, which has been in the 
possession of the Pennypacker family since 1759. 
The map of the Revolutionary period marks Penny- 
packer's Mills as an important point. These mills, on 
the banks of the Perkiomen, were for many years a 
landmark throughout the neighborhood. 

On September 26, 1777, after the Battle of Brandy- 
wine, Washington went to the head of the Skippack 
Road, with his army of ten thousand men. He made his 
headquarters at the old house. It is said that of the 
twenty or twenty-five headquarters of General Wash- 
ington still in existence over the country, this is the 
only one remaining in the name of the family having 
it at the time of the Revolution. 

On September 28, 1777, a council of generals was 

247 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

held at the house, in consequence of which the; army 
marched down the Skippack Road to Germantown. 

The Skippack Road has so many points of surpass- 
ing interest and the landscape is so beautiful that it is 
well to return to Fort Washington by the route already 
covered. From Fort Washington the turnpike should 
be followed once more toward Bethlehem. 

Three-quarters of a mile from Spring House, near 
Penllyn railway station, is the Foulke House, now the 
home of Edward J. Pershing. This is the place on the 
banks of the Wissahickon made famous by Sally Wis- 
ter when she was living with her family in a"part of the 
home of Hannah Foulke, widow, during the occupation 
of Philadelphia by the British. Here the vivacious 
Sally wrote the Journal in which she gave so many racy 
incidents of life on the border between the armies of 
the Americans and the British. 

Perhaps the most interesting of the narratives in 
the Journal is the story of the British Grenadier, a 
wooden figure, life size, which once served as an ad- 
vertisement at the door of the Southwark Theater on 
Cedar and Apollo Streets, Philadelphia. It seems likely 
that this figure was painted by Major Andre, who was 
one of the scene painters for the theater. 

Somehow the gorgeous Grenadier was in the posses- 
sion of the Wister family at the time when Sally Wister 
was writing her Journal. George Washington's troops 
were in camp not far from Sally's refuge, and she had 
many acquaintances among the officers. One of these 
was a diffident man, Major Tilly, whom Sally described 
thus: 

248 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

He seems a wild, noisy Mortal, tho' I am not much 
Acquainted with him. He appears bashful when with 
girls. . . . He is above the common size, rather genteel, 
an extreme pretty, ruddy face, hair brown and a suf- 
ficiency of it, a very great laugher, and talks so ex- 
cessively fast that he often begins sentences without 
finishing the last, which confuses him very much, and 
then blushes and laughs; and in short, he keeps me in 
perpetual good humour; but the Creature has not ad- 
dressed one civil thing to me since he came. 

Sally took her revenge on the uncivil major by play- 
ing harmless jokes on him. The wooden figure of the 
British Grenadier was the inspiration of one of these 
jokes, and of this she told in paragraphs so delicious 
that they must not be spoiled by an attempt at para- 
phrase : 

We had brought some weeks ago a British grenadier 
from Uncle Miles's on purpose to divert us. It is re- 
markably well executed, six feet high, and makes a 
martial appearance. This we agreed to stand at the 
door that opens into the road (the house has four rooms 
on a floor, with a wide entry running through), with 
another figure that would add to the deceit. One of 
our servants was to stand behind them, others were to 
serve as occasion offered. . . . 

Never did I more sincerely wish to possess a de- 
scriptive genius than I do now. All that I can write 
will fall infinitely short of the truly diverting scene that 
I have been witness to to-night. But, as I mean to 
attempt an account, I had as well shorten the preface, 
and begin the story. 

In the beginning of the even'g I went to Liddy 
(Jp'oulke) and beg'd her to secure the swords and pistols 
which were in their parlor. The Marylander (Major 

249 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Stodard) hearing our voices, joined us. I told him of 
my proposal. Whether he thought it a good one or not 
I can't say, but he approv'd of it, and Liddy went in 
and brought her apron full of swords & pistols. 

When this was done, Stodard join'd the oflBcers. 
We girls went and stood at the first landing of the 
stairs. The gentlemen were very merry and chatting 
on public affairs, when Seaton's negro (observe that 
Seaton, being indisposed, was appriz'd of the scheme) 
open'd the door, candle in his hand, and said, "There's 
somebody at the door that wishes to see you." 

"Who? All of us?" said Tilly. 

"Yes, sir," answered the boy. 

They all rose (the Major, as he afterwards said, 
almost dying with laughing) and walked into the entry, 
Tilly first, in full expectation of news. 

The first object that struck his view, was the 
British soldier. In a moment his ears were saluted 
with "Is there any rebel officers here?" in a thundering 
voice. 

Not waiting for a second word, he darted like light- 
ning out at the front door, through the yard, bolted 
o'er the fence. Swamps, fences, thorn-hedges, and 
plough'd fields no way impeded his retreat. He was 
soon out of hearing. 

The woods echoed with "Which way did he go? 
Stop him! Surround the house!" The Amiable Lips- 
combe had his hand on the latch of the door, intending 
to effect his escape; Stodard, considering his indisposi- 
tion, acquainted him with the deceit. 

We females ran down stairs to join in the general 
laugh. I walked into Jessie's parlor. There sat poor 
Stodard (whose sore lips must have received no ad- 
vantage from this), almost convuls'd with laughing, 
rolling in an arm chair. He said nothing. I believe he 
could not have spoke. 

250 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

"Major Stodard," said I, "go call Tilly back. He 
will lose himself, — indeed he will;" every word inter- 
rupted with a "Ha! Ha!" 

At last he rose, and went to the door, and what a 
loud voice could avail in bringing him back, he tried. 

Figure to thyself this Tilly, of a snowy even'g, no 
hat, shoes down at heel, hair unty'd, flying across 
meadows, creeks and mud-holes. Flying from what? 
Why, a bit of painted wood. But he was ignorant 
of what it was. The idea of being made a prisoner 
wholly engross'd his mind, and his last resource was 
to run. 

After a while, we being in rather more composure 
and our bursts of laughter less frequent, yet by no 
means subsided, — in full assembly of girls and officers, — 
Tilly entr'd. 

The greatest part of my risibility turned to pity. 
Inexpressible confusion had taken entire possession of 
his countenance, his fine hair hanging dishevell'd 
down his shoulders, all splashed with mud ; yet his 
fright, confusion and race had not divested him of 
his beauty. 

At last his good nature gain'd a compleat ascend- 
ance over his anger, and he joined heartily in the 
laugh. I will do him the justice to say that he bore 
it charmingly. No cowardly threats, no vengeance 
denounced. 

Stodard caught hold of his Coat. "Come, look at 
what you ran from," and drag'd him to the door. 

He gave it a look, said it was very natural, and by 
the regularity of his expression, gave fresh cause for 
diversion. We all retir'd to our different parlours, for 
to rest our faces, if I may say so. 

The figure of the British Grenadier that caused so 
much diversion may still be seen at Grumblethorpe, 

251 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

in Germantown. Not long ago it was taken to Fouike 
House, on the occasion of a pilgrimage of a historical 
society, and was set up in the front hall, in the position 
Sally Wister placed it. 

Montgomery Square is the next point of special 
interest on the road to Bethlehem. Here are two old 
inns, separated by the State Road. The first of these 
is Old Lower Inn, now a private dwelling house. The 
residents in the vicinity tell with bated breath of a 
gang of counterfeiters who made their headquarters 
here and flooded the surrounding country with spurious 
coin. Some seventy-five years ago the secret service 
agents spent weary months in trailing these lawbreakers. 
The search was finally successful. The counterfeiters, 
finding themselves closely pursued, tried to destroy 
the evidence that would be used against them by throw- 
ing their dies and their spurious coins into an old quarry 
down the road. For years it was a popular amusement 
among the boys to explore the quarry in the vain hope 
of recovering some of the loot. 

The abandoned inn, across the State Road, is notable 
because of the fine moulding to be seen under the eaves 
on the front of the building, and because of the study 
in shingles and gables afforded by an inspection of 
the rear. 

Beyond Montgomery Square, at Montgomeryville, 
is the Walker Inn, a house more than a century old. 
If he has a chance the proprietor is glad to show to 
travelers many curiosities he has gathered under his 
roof, including an Indian harrow ingeniously made of 
wood. This is used as a hatrack. 

252 




ri>i'i;K INN. Mii\ I c,c )Mi-:i;v s(,)r\i;i; 




^ 



Li'i'Eii I.N.N, i;i:ai: \ iew 




^ms 



mm 



OLD FARM HOUSE, BETWI >i;\ M ' i \ l( i oMERYVILLE AND DOYLESTOWN 




AN OLD HOUSE IN BETHLEHEM 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

The turnpike increases in interest as the distance 
of twenty-nine miles from Montgomeryville to Bethle- 
hem is traversed. Many landmarks are seen which were 
viewed by the passengers between Philadelphia and 
Bethlehem, in the years following 1750. In those days 
the road was diflBcult at most seasons, but the difficul- 
ties of the road were nothing to the difficulties of the 
ferry at Bethlehem in time of high water, until a rope 
ferry was substituted for the primitive pole ferry which 
four men found it difficult to move across the river in 
less than half an hour. 

It was a great day when, by means of the rope 
ferry, the time for crossing was reduced to ninety sec- 
onds. Soon after this came another improvement — 
the first regular stage between the cities, which made 
the round trip once each week. 

The merchants at Bethlehem knew how to draw 
trade, for in January, 1767, the traveler was attracted 
by a sign at the ferry : 

All such persons as bring wheat, rye, Indian corn 
& buckwheat, to the grist mill at Bethlehem, for grind- 
ing, are free from ferriage, provided they observe the 
following regulations. 

Then came a table fixing the minimum quantity 
of each grain to be hauled by one or by two horses, in 
a cart, or in a sled. Provisions brought for sale might 
be on the same vehicle. All persons on their way to 
church were carried free, provided they did not come 
for the purpose of transacting business or carrying 
parcels. 

/ During the year 1777 the ferry saw busy times, for 

253 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Bethlehem was crowded with delegates to Congress, 
officers and civilians, the heavy baggage and wounded 
of the army, and soldiers and prisoners of war. On 
July 25, 1782, General Washington crossed the ferry 
to the town. 

Twice between 1775 and 1781 many of the houses 
in Bethlehem were occupied by American troops and 
British prisoners of war. The Single Brethren House 
was used as a hospital. For this no charge was made, 
though the building was occupied for eight months and 
ten days, but in 1779 a bill was sent for repairs amount- 
ing to $358. 

On September 13, 1777, there was excitement in 
Bethlehem because of the word that Washington's 
army had been compelled to fall back on Philadelphia. 
Three days later came a letter from David Rittenhouse 
announcing that all the military stores of the army, 
in upwards of seven hundred wagons, had been ordered 
to Bethlehem. The church bells of Philadelphia as well 
as Independence Bell were taken to Bethlehem, on the 
way to Allentown. The wagon on which the Independ- 
ence Bell was loaded broke down on descending the 
hill in front of the hospital, and had to be unloaded 
while repairs were being made. 

The most distinguished patient cared for in Beth- 
lehem was the Marquis de Lafayette, who was brought 
from Brandywine, and was nursed by the Moravian 
sister Liesel Beckel, 

In April, 1780, all Bethlehem was dismayed because 
Congress talked of locating the Capital there. Lewis 
Weiss of Philadelphia wrote to Rev. John Ettwein of 
254 



THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM 

Bethlehem, informing him of the threatened danger to 
the morals of the staid town. 

I was yesterday spoken to by a friend of mine, a 
member of Congress, intimating that Congress had a 
mind to change their residence, and that it was pro- 
posed by some members Bethlehem would be a very 
proper place for making a Hague, like in Holland. I 
immediately exclaimed that Congress was mad! . . . 
I should be very sorry if Congress should come to re- 
side even in your neighborhood, for it would spoil the 
morals of many of your people, and the markets of all 
of them. 

To this letter Mr. Ettwein replied: 

Bethlehem has about thirty-six private dwelling- 
houses, which are inhabited by sixty -one families, with 
their different trades and workshops, so that many a 
family has but one single room for themselves and their 
all. You know the public buildings, as the meeting- 
house, schools, the house of the single brethern, single 
sisters, and widows, taverns, and mills, are full of people; 
and I may, with truth, observe that no village or town 
in the State is so crowded with inhabitants as Bethlehem 
now is. Nazareth is not much better, and as it lies 
nine miles nigher to the Blue Mountains, that settle- 
ment is the first refuge of the settlers behind the moun- 
tains, as soon as they fear the least danger on account 
of the Indians. . . . Yet, if ever the honourable Con- 
gress and its appendages could find the necessary ac- 
commodations here and in the neighborhood, which I 
know to be impossible, if they will not live in tents, it 
would, in my humble opinion, be a dangerous residence 
for them, as we are so nigh the mountains and the Big 
Swamp, from which an army could with ease walk in 
one night to Bethlehem. And such a treasure as the 

255 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Congress might be a great temptation for the Indians 
or their desperate associates to make a sudden attempt 
on the place, if they were not cowed by a considerable 
force. 

The letter closed with an appeal that Congress 
might not "distress the inhabitants of this little place, 
disturb its happy constitution, and have nothing for 
it but trouble, exposure, and disappointment." 

Wiser counsels prevailed, and the Capital remained 
near the coast. 



X 

THE OLD YORK ROAD 

IN 1680 two young men, Heinrich Frey and Joseph 
Plattenbach, had a blacksmith shop near the pres- 
ent corner of Front and Arch Streets. One of the 
curious visitors to their shop was a young Indian to 
whom they showed great kindness. One day the 
Indian, who was Joseph the son of Tamane, the chief 
of the Leni Lenape, followed an old Indian trail through 
the woods to the headquarters of the tribe. The vis- 
itors made such a good impression on the Leni Lenape 
that they were adopted into the tribe. Before their 
return Tamane took them to the spot where the Ger- 
mantown Road joins the York Road and told them 
that a council of the tribe had decided that to them 
should belong all the land in that region until the 
Great Spirit should call them to the Eternal Wilder- 
ness. At the moment the sun was rising in the east, 
so the young men named the spot Auf-gehende Taune, 
or Rising Sun. 

On March 24, 1703, the proprietors of the Indian 
grant, which had been confirmed by William Penn, 
were married. They settled at Rising Sun. Eight 
years later the Old York Road was opened, and forty- 
three years later Mary Davis bought thirty-eight acres 
at the forks of the roads, and opened Rising Sun Inn. 

Hotchkin quotes a local historian who gives a pleas- 
17 257 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

ing picture of events on the road since its first opening, 
"the removal of rocks, trees and stumps; the building 
of bridges, and the covering of the surface with stone. 
The changes, too, in travel, at first on horseback, then 
the cart, the two and four horse team, the gig, the 
stage coach, the elliptic-spring market wagon and car- 
riage. The surprising change, likewise, in the people — 
groups of Indians, negro slaves, and redemptioners, 
sold for their passage, and brought out from the city 
by their masters, all gone! The like to pass over it no 
more." 

Samuel Breck has a passage which throws light on 
this reference to redemptioners. On August 1, 1817, 
he wrote : 

Being a long time dissatisfied with some of my ser- 
vants I went on board the ship John lately arrived with 
four hundred passengers. I saw the remains of a very 
fine cargo, consisting of healthy, good-looking men, 
women and children, and I purchased one German 
Swiss for Mr. Ross and two French Swiss for myself. 
My two servants come from Lausanne in Switzerland. 
... I gave for the woman seventy-six dollars, which 
is her passage money, with a purse of twenty dollars 
at the end of three years, if she serve me faithfully, 
clothing and maintenance of course. . . . 

An advertisement in the Philadelphia Mercury in 
1739 tells of one of the many redemptioners who were 
unwilling to wait for their freedom until the expiration 
of the stipulated term of years: 

Ran-away on the 24th of June, from David Bush 
of Willing Town, a Servant Man named John Christ- 
ian Travett, he is a Palatine, and came in this last Fall, 
258 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

in Capt. John Stedman's Ship from Holland. He had 
on a blue Camblet Coat full trimmed and lined with 
White, a grey pair of breeches, white Cotton Stock- 
ings, a felt Hat, black flank hair and a black Cravet 
on, he is of a middle Stature, a down cast look, and 
Talks no English, had with him two pair of worsted 
Stockings, one Dutch Bible, and Prayer Book, a striped 
red and white Calimanco Jacket. 

Whoever takes up and secures said Servant so that 
his Master may have him again, shall have Forty 
Shillings Reward and other reasonable Charges paid. 

Neither fleeing redemptioners nor honest travelers 
had an easy time on the Old York Road, if weather 
conditions were the least bit bad. The deep black 
mould made excellent mud, and there were treacher- 
ous quicksands in many places. Farmers on their way 
to market were accustomed to go in parties, that one 
might help another when diflaculties were encountered. 
Some who ventured to make the trip alone found it 
advisable to use four and perhaps six horses; even then 
they were sometimes badly mired. An old resident, 
quoted in Watson's Annals, declared that he saw once 
near Rising Sun Village *'a team stalled, and that in 
endeavoring to draw out the fore horse with an iron 
chain to his head, it slipped, and the horse was so 
badly injured that he had to be killed." No wonder a 
boy was sometimes stationed at dangerous places to 
warn teamsters, and that fence rails were placed on 
end in the road as silent messengers of threatened dis- 
aster. 

In 1803 steps were taken to correct these condi- 
tions; the turnpike was authorized and construction 

269 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

begun at once on the section from Rising Sun to the 
Red Lion Inn at Willow Grove. 

The first home of importance on the old road was 
Stenton, the seat of James Logan, located close to the 
present Logan Station on the Reading. His property 
extended along the road a distance of one mile. The 
Indian trail from the interior led past this front. Dusky 
visitors to the mansion were numerous and their stay 
was frequently prolonged. 

At one time the Indians had a camp on the grounds. 
James Logan was president of the Council, they had 
business with him, and they thought they were justi- 
fied in remaining near their friend, making free of his 
grounds and house, and living on his bounty. 

Sutcliffe tells of an amusing occurrence connected 
with such a visit paid to some place like Stenton, that 
kept open house to the red men. The story was told 
to him by a young woman: 

She informed me, that her father was frequently 
in the practice of entertaining different parties of 
Indians, who came to Philadelphia on public business; 
and that having once invited a number of chiefs who 
were then in the city to breakfast, they came to the 
house rather earlier than the servants expected, accom- 
panied by their interpreter. However, they were 
introduced into the breakfast room, where a servant 
was engaged in brightening up some of the brasswork 
about the fireplace, and were desired to sit down till 
the master made his appearance. They had not sat 
long, before one of the Indians made an observation 
in his own language, which the interpreter was desired 
to put into English. Unwillingly he explained: 

"Look at that servant, how she labors at those 
260 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

andirons. I dare say, if we had come yesterday, we 
should have found her at the same employment, and 
if we came to-morrow morning, ten to one we should 
still find her at the same work. How foolish these 
white people are, thus to labour and toil about things 
which can come to no good purpose; certainly these 
white people must be fools." 

Chief Wingohocking was one of the frequent vis- 
itors at Stenton. One day, while standing with Logan, 
by the stream that winds through the estate, the chief 
proposed an exchange of names, an Indian token of 
friendship. But Logan had a counter proposition: he 
would name the stream for the Indian. So, to this 
day, the creek is named Wingohocking. 

In her sketch of Deborah Logan in "Worthy Women 
of Our First Century," Mrs. Sarah Butler Wister 
describes the old Stenton house, which is to-day open 
to the public, by the courtesy of the Society of Colonial 
Dames. She says: 

Round the house there was the quiet stir and move- 
ment of a country place, with its large gardens full of 
old-fashioned flowers and fruits, its poultry yard and 
stables. The latter were connected with the house by 
an underground passage, which led to a concealed 
staircase and a door under the roof, like the priest's 
escape in some old English country seats. 

The offices surrounded the main building, connected 
with it by brick courts and covered ways. They were 
all at the back, and so disposed as to enhance the 
picturesque and dignified air of the old mansion, the 
interior of which is as curious to modern eyes as it is 
imposing. One enters by a brick hall, opposite to which 
is the magnificent double staircase, while, right and left 
are lofty rooms covered with fine old-fashioned wood- 

261 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

work, in some of them the wainscot being carried up 
to the ceiling above the chimney-place, which in all 
the apartments was a vast opening set round with 
blue and white sculptured tiles of the most grotesque 
devices. There are corner cupboards, and in some of 
the rooms cupboards in arched niches over the mantel- 
piece, capital show-corners for the rare china and mag- 
nificent old silver which adorned the dinner table on 
state occasions. Half of the front of the house, in the 
second story, was taken up by one large room, the 
library of the book-loving masters of the place. 

Elizabeth Drinker was one of the early residents 
on this road. In her journal she speaks often of her 
husband's plantation, located between the fifth and 
sixth milestones from Philadelphia, for which he paid 
£3146. This was not Henry Drinker's only invest- 
ment in real estate, for he was one of the promoters and 
stockholders in a three thousand acre tract in Wayne 
county, where it was proposed to manufacture maple 
sugar, so as to avoid the use of sugar grown by slave 
labor. That the venture made a good start is shown 
by a letter from George Washington to Mr. Drinker, 
written on June 18, 1790, thanking him for a box of 
maple sugar, and wishing success to the promoters 
of the new venture, as something that might prove of 
considerable benefit to the country. The experiment 
was not successful; Mr. Drinker and his associates, so 
the story goes, did not learn until the investment had 
been made that the sap of the maple will flow only a 
few weeks in the year. The Maple Sugar Company 
went into bankruptcy, and Mr. Drinker was thrown 
back on his York Road farm. 
262 




(iKAM.i, 1 AKM. M,\i; rAi;<»i; -^iaiion 
Built by Jan Luken, in 1708 




( iiA> i \i;m mil >i; 

Near Llie gale of Butler I'laee. the e.Hiiitr.N' liuiiie of Mr. Di^eii Wister 




HORSHAM MEETING HOUSE, 1803 




GRAEME PARK 
Built by Sir William Keith in 1721 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

One of the oldest houses in the vicinity of Phila- 
delphia, Grange Farm, is located not far from the site of 
the York Road farm of Mr. Drinker. It may be found 
easily by those who turn to the right on Olney Avenue, 
and then to the left up the farm lane. The house is to 
the north of Tabor Station, between Grange and Chew 
streets. Jan Luken, the builder of the old farmhouse, 
came to Germantown in 1688. Ten years later he 
settled on his fifty acre farm on York Road and built 
a stone house and bam. The property was occupied 
by the Highland troops when the British were in Phila- 
delphia. In the barn grain and forage were stored. 
Some years ago the roof of the barn was destroyed by 
fire, but the old walls are a part of the new barn. 

On York Road, opposite Butler Place, the British 
built a barricade. There was a severe skirmish in one 
of the fields of Butler Place. The entrance to this 
old-fashioned home, now the property of Owen Wister, 
the novelist, is through the gateway on the left. 

Mr. Wister's house was built in 1791. Major But- 
ler bought it in 1810, and it has been in his family 
since that time. Mrs. Wister is Major Butler's great- 
granddaughter. Many men prominent in the early his- 
tory of the country were entertained here, for Major 
Butler was for many years prominent in colonial and 
federal history. He had been a delegate to the Con- 
tinental Congress and a representative to the Federal 
Convention. Later he was a United States Senator 
from South Carolina. 

From Butler Place it is not far to Champlost Manor 

House, which was the residence of James Porteus in 

263 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

1722. This may be reached by Green Lane. The 
name was not given to the estate until 1780, when 
George Fox, the owner, was in France. While a guest 
at the chateau of the Count de Champlost he was 
taken seriously ill, but was tenderly cared for by his 
host. On his return to America, in gratitude to his 
French host, he named his estate Champlost. 

At Branchtown, near Chelten Avenue, on the 
Charles W. Wharton place, three curious irregular stones 
mark the graves of American soldiers who were shot 
by a British trooper who came upon them as they were 
sitting at a spring. 

Until recently the home of Lucretia Mott, Road- 
side, stood in La Mott, near City Line. The little 
settlement named for her is now the sole reminder of 
this early advocate of equal rights for women. 

As a Friend Lucretia Mott must have been inter- 
ested in the history of The Ivy, the house built in 1682 
by Richard Wain, which stands in the old village of 
Shoemakertown, now Ogontz, at the corner of Church 
Lane. This, it is said, is the oldest meeting place of 
Friends in or near Philadelphia still in existence, for 
"at a Mo. Meeting held at Sarah Sleary's, ye 3d of 
10 mo. 1683 At urgent request of Some friends belong- 
ing to the Meeting A Meeting was Settled at New 
Cheltenham at the house of Richard Walln." 

Two years later the house was made a monthly meet- 
ing place. In 1700 Abington Monthly Meeting succeeded 
Cheltenham Meeting until then held at The Ivy. Thus 
the Abington Meeting shares the distinction of age with 
the Abington Presbyterian Church, which dates from 1710. 

264 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

At Willow Grove the York Road branches. The 
left branch is called the Willow Grove and Doyles- 
town Road. In 1722 this was opened from Willow Grove 
to the county line in Warrington. John Melish's Trav- 
eler's Directory of 1824 spoke of the entire road from 
Willow Grove to Easton as a section of the Old York 
Road. 

Those who use the street cars will be able to follow 
the road as far as Willow Grove, and from there to 
take a car either to Doylestown on the left or to Hat- 
boro on the right. 

Those who elect to go toward Doylestown will find 
Horsham Meeting, one of the first objects of special 
interest after passing Willow Grove. The present build- 
ing, erected in 1803, is the third meeting house built 
here. Visitors to the building will be interested in 
noting the difference between the front and rear rooms. 
The front room has been varnished, while in the rear 
room both pillars and pews have been left without 
adornment. The contrast is suggestive. 

Not far from Horsham Meeting is Graeme Park, 
a mansion that dates back to 1721, the year the first 
Meeting House was built. This ancient house may be 
reached by way of the Keith Road, soon after passing 
the Meeting. This road was laid out through the for- 
est, in 1722, to provide an outlet for the family at 
Graeme Park. 

Sir William Keith, the original owner of the prop- 
erty, was appointed by Queen Anne Surveyor Gen- 
eral of the royal customs in the American colonies. 
His salary of £500 per year enabled him to assume 

265 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

great style, though he lived beyond his income, com- 
pelling his creditors to bear a large portion of his 
expenses. He lost his oflfice when Queen Anne was 
succeeded by George I. 

While he was out of ofiBce he came from Virginia to 
Philadelphia. Here friends became interested in him, 
and in 1716 the Council asked Hannah Penn to make 
him deputy governor of the Province of Pennsylvania. 
Some time later Mrs. Penn wrote to James Logan, one 
of Keith's sponsors, after seeing Keith in London: 

Have at your request got William Keith commis- 
sioned by my husband, and appointed by the Crown, 
and with a general consent he now goes deputy gover- 
nor over that province and territories. Though he was 
pretty much of a stranger to me, yet his prudent con- 
duct, and obliging behavior, joined with your obser- 
vation thereon, gave me and those concerned good 
hope that he will prove satisfactory. He is certainly 
an understanding man, and seems to have himself 
master of the affairs of your province, even beyond 
what we might expect in so short a time. 

The new official borrowed money in England and 
brought his family to America. He had four sons and 
a step-daughter, Ann Diggs, who became the bride of 
Dr. Graeme, a traveling companion and relative of the 
deputy governor. After her marriage she continued 
to live in the home of her step-father. 

Soon after coming to America Colonel Keith bought 
1200 acres of land near Round Meadow Run, the pres- 
ent Willow Grove, nineteen miles from Philadelphia. 
Some of his friends thought he was foolish to go so far 
from the city, in the midst of a wilderness, but he 

266 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

insisted that he would be able to make a charming 
home on his estate. 

At once he began to build a house sixty by twenty- 
four feet, and three stories high, with walls two feet 
thick. The rooms were large and beautifully paneled, 
some of them from the jfloor to the high ceiling. For 
the fireplaces brick and tile were brought from Eng- 
land. Other features of note are the bull's-eye glass 
above the front door, the hole in the floor of the Gover- 
nor's office upstairs, where he deposited his valuables, 
the hand-made lath in the attic, the stack chimneys, 
each with three flues, the bit of wall in front of the 
house which is a renmant of the old slave quarters, 
and the depression in the rear of the house, where 
there was at one time a lake, as shown in drawings of 
the house. 

Crowning a gatepost before the farmhouse of the 
present owner of the property, Morris B. Penrose, is 
the curious mushroom-shaped boulder used by Sir 
William as a test of the strength of applicants for work. 
Those who could not lift the stone could not hope for 
employment. 

For many years the mansion was open to visitors 
without restriction, but the privilege was abused. Van- 
dals defaced the walls and the woodwork, and other- 
wise injured the property. For some time the doors 
have been locked, but they are opened to those who 
will apply at the farmhouse. 

On this estate Colonel Keith lived in luxury until 

1729. An inventory of his property shows that he had 

possessions as follows: 

267 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Fourteen slaves, a silver punch bowl, ladle and 
strainer, four salvers, three casters and thirty-three 
spoons, seventy large pewter plates, fourteen smaller 
plates, six basins, six transports with covers, thirteen 
different sizes of bowls, six complete tea sets, two dozen 
chocolate cups, twenty dishes of various sizes, four 
dozen plates, six rings, one dozen fine coffee-cups, 
eighteen jars, twelve venison pots, six whitestone tea- 
sets, twelve mugs, six dozen plates, and twelve fine 
wine decanters, twenty -four Holland sheets, twenty 
common sheets, fifty tablecloths, twelve dozen nap- 
kins, sixteen bedsteads, one hundred and forty -four 
chairs, thirty-two tables, three clocks, fifteen looking- 
glasses, ten dozen knives and forks, four coach horses, 
seven saddle horses, six working horses, two mares 
and one colt, four oxen, fifteen cows, four bulls, six 
calves, thirty-one sheep and twenty hogs, a large glass 
coach, two Chaises, two wagons, one wain. 

The owner of all these fine things was accustomed 
to drive over his own road toward Philadelphia in a 
manner in keeping with his state at Graeme Park. 
His coach and four, with outriders, was a sight of which 
the people never wearied. 

In 1729 the spendthrift governor left for England, 
after mortgaging his farm and property to Dr. Graeme 
and deeding the estate to Mrs. Keith. Twenty years 
later he died in the Old Bailey, London, where he had 
been imprisoned for debt. 

In 1739 Dr. Graeme bought the property for £760. 
He continued to live on the estate during the summer, 
though he made his home in Philadelphia during the 
winter, for this was more convenient to him, when 
he was a member of the Council and, later, when he 
268 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

was one of the three justices of the Supreme Court. 
When his health failed he retired to Graeme Park. 

In 1755 he wrote to Thomas Penn concerning the 
property, in whose development he took much pride: 

I have a park which encloses three hundred acres 
of land, which is managed in a manner quite different 
from any I have seen here or elsewhere. I have double- 
ditched and double-hedged it in, and ... I dare ven- 
ture to say that no nobleman in England but would 
be proud to have it for his seat. 

Dr. Graeme longed for the happiness of his daugh- 
ter Elizabeth, and he dreamed of the day when she 
would follow him at Graeme Park. But when she 
made known her wish to marry Henry Hugh Fergu- 
son, he opposed the marriage, for he felt the man was 
unworthy. However she listened to the adventurer's 
proposal of a secret marriage, and on April 21, 1772, 
she married him in Gloria Dei, Philadelphia. Then 
her husband urged her to confess her fault. Some 
months later she made up her mind to speak to her 
father when he returned from a walk in the garden. 
She told what followed : 

I sat on the bench at the window and watched him 
coming up the avenue. It was a terrible task to pre- 
pare. I was in agony; at every step he was approach- 
ing nearer. As he reached the tenant house he fell and 
died. Had I told him the day before, as I thought of 
doing, I should have reproached myself for his death 
and gone crazy. 

The repentant daughter wrote the epitaph that 
was placed on her father's tomb in Christ Churchyard, 
Philadelphia: 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

The soul that lived within this Crumbling dust 
In every Act was Eminently just. 
Peaceful through Life, as peaceful, too, in death, 
Without one Pang, he rendered back his breath. 

The years brought still greater sorrow to Mrs. 
Ferguson. Her husband wasted her substance, and 
during the Revolution he acted in such a manner that 
he was accused of high treason and the estate was 
seized. Later, by act of Assembly, it was restored to 
his wife. Her own loyalty she showed when she enter- 
tained General Washington while his army was en- 
camped near by, October 21, 1777. 

She did her best to fill her days with literary labors, 
and she became a leader among the more cultured 
people of the neighborhood, and of Philadelphia. Many 
famous men were guests in her home. In 1783 she 
became a patron of the Hatboro Library, sending such 
a large donation that a carpenter had to be employed 
to build extra shelves. This was quite an event in 
Hatboro. 

In 1791 she sold the property. Ten years later she 
died, broken-hearted. About the same time the estate 
came into the hands of the Penrose family. 

Some distance beyond Graeme Park, toward Doyles- 
town, at Halliwell, a picturesque bam in the rear of 
Horsham Hotel has a date stone telling that it was 
built by G. P. (George Palmer) in 1788. 

Thirteen years later the overseers of the road built 
a stately stone bridge over the Neshaminy at Edison- 
ville which bears the traffic as well as ever, and promises 
to stand for another hundred years. 
270 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

Two miles beyond Neshaminy Creek is Doyles- 
town, a town built on a tract conveyed by William 
Penn to the Free Society of Traders in 1682. Orig- 
inally this contained 20,000 acres. Two of the earliest 
residents on this tract were Jeremiah Langhome and 
Joseph Kirkbride, who ran away from his master in 
England and came to America on the Welcomey with 
Penn. The name Doyles Town was given to the place 
when William Doyle, in 1745, opened a tavern at a 
spot "between two great roads, one leading from Dur- 
ham to Philadelphia," the other "From Wells* Ferry 
toward the Potomac." 

Four miles from Doylestown, in Buckingham Town- 
ship, is the grave of King Taminunt, or Chief Tam- 
many, the Delaware Indian who was the friend of 
William Penn, of whom an early admirer said that "he 
never had his equal. He was in the highest degree 
endued with wisdom, virtue, prudence, charity, affa- 
bility, meekness, hospitality — in short with every good 
and noble qualification that ^ a human being may 
possess." 

This friend of the early settlers, who signed many 
of the grants of land made to William Penn, was 
constituted by some of his early admirers the patron 
saint of America. His name is to-day best known 
because of its use by a celebrated New York political 
organization. 

From Doylestown the Buckingham Pike may be 
taken three miles east to the main stem of the York 
Road at Centerville. From Centerville, twenty-seven 
miles from Philadelphia, the return trip may be made 

271 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

to Philadelphia, or the road may be followed to New 
Hope on the Delaware. For the sake of completeness 
this narrative will speak of the entire distance from 
Willow Grove to New Hope. 

When Peter Kalm went over this road in Septem- 
ber, 1748, its appearance and surroundings were quite 
different. He wrote in his "Travels into North America" : 

The country on both sides of the road was covered 
with a great forest. ... As we went on in the wood, 
we continually saw at moderate distances little fields, 
which had been cleared of the wood. These farms 
were commonly very pretty, and a walk of trees fre- 
quently led from them to the high-road. The houses 
were all built of brick, or of the stone which is here 
everywhere to be met with. Every countryman, even 
though he were the poorest peasant, had an orchard 
with apples, peaches, chestnuts, walnuts, cherries, 
quinces, and such fruits, and sometimes we saw the 
vines climbing along them. The vallies were frequently 
provided with little brooks which contained a crystal 
stream. 

In spite of the fact that there was so much forest 
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, the price of wood 
was high. Elizabeth Drinker told of paying, in 1791, 
£1.2-6 for half a cord! of hickory wood. Kalm said 
the reason firewood was dear was "because the great 
and high forest near the town is the property of some 
people of quality and fortune, who do not regard the 
money which they could make of them. . . . they leave 
the trees for times to come, expecting that wood will 
become much more scarce." When he wrote, the price 
for "hiccory" was eighteen shillings a cord. 

More than fifty years after Kalm told of the for- 
272 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

ests on the Old York Road, William Priest, another 
tourist, described with relish observations he had made 
while traveling: 

The chief amusement of the country girls in winter 
is sleighing, of which they are passionately fond, so 
indeed are the whole sex in this Country. I never 
heard a woman speak of this diversion but with rap- 
ture. You have doubtless read a description of a sleigh, 
or sledge, as it is common in all northern countries, and 
can only be used on the snow. . . . The snow seldom 
lies on the ground more than seven or eight days to- 
gether. The consequence is, that every moment that 
will admit of sleighing is seized on with avidity. The 
tavern and innkeepers are up all night, and the whole 
country is in motion. When the snow begins to fall, 
our planters' daughters provide hot sand, which at 
night they place in bags at the bottom of the sleigh. 
Their sweethearts attend with a couple of horses, and 
away they glide with astonishing velocity; visiting 
their friends for many miles around the Country. But 
in large towns, in order to have a sleighing frolic in 
style, it is necessary to provide a fiddler, who is placed 
at the head of the sleighs and plays all the way. At 
every inn they meet with on the road, the company 
alight and have a dance. 

Probably one of the taverns frequently by these 
sleighing parties was the Crooked Billet, in Hatboro. 
This has been remodeled into a private dwelling. The 
gable end extends over the sidewalk on iron pillars. 
It was built in 1750 by John Dawson, who came from 
London, and kept a hat factory in the building. This 
industry gave the name to the town. Later the sign 
of a crooked billet of wood was hung before the door 
and travelers were welcomed. At one time a school 
18 273 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

was held in the inn. General Washington, in a letter 
to Congress dated August 10, 1777, mentions the 
Crooked Billet Tavern, and the fact that he had taken 
refreshment there when on the way from Valley Forge 
to Trenton. 

Near the southern limits of Hatboro is LoUer 
Academy, founded by Robert Loller. He was a school- 
teacher, a surveyor, a colonel during the Revolutionary 
War, a member of the Assembly, and an Associate 
Judge of Montgomery County. At his death he made 
provision for the founding of "an academy or semi- 
nary of learning." The building was erected in 1801 at 
a cost of eleven thousand dollars. To-day it is used as 
a public school. Near the academy is the bridge over 
the Pennypack, built in 1780. 

The academy was not the first gift to education in 
Hatboro. On August 2, 1755, at the Crooked Billet, 
four men agreed that the town must have a library. 
At this time there were not over eight or nine public 
libraries in the colonies, two of these being in Phila- 
delphia. The town was small, and they knew that the 
beginning must be modest. But they were too wise 
to wait until there were more people who could be 
called on for gifts. At this preliminary meeting the 
four men present paid in forty -four pounds as a begin- 
ning. 

The purpose of the library they proposed to found 
was thus announced : 

Whereas, black and dark ignorance, with all the 
horrid concomitants that generally accompany or flow 
from it, does about this time greatly prevail in these 
274 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

parts and no general scheme on foot for the promotion 
of knowledge and virtue, this, by some of the most 
serious and thinking part of the people however, was 
looked upon with anxious concern, and some pro- 
posals were made for forming a public library of select 
books, as the most likely way to promote knowledge 
and moral virtue and consequently to expel those 
gloomy clouds of ignorance and open profaneness so 
much abounding and give the gentle reader an agree- 
able taste for learning. 

At once steps were taken to order books from a 
London bookseller, but it was August 12, 1756, a year 
and ten days from the date of the first subscription, 
that the volumes were received. 

The records of the library tell what followed: 

The books being come in, and the Directors having 
got room at Joshua Pott's to set them up, they advised 
the whole company to meet this day that the books 
might be delivered out by lot without the least appear- 
ance of partiality which was done to universal satis- 
faction. 

In those days a book was a book, and anyone who 
cared to read at all devoured what came into his hands. 

That there was much ceremony about becoming a 
member of the library company is shown by another 
early minute in the records: 

On this day James Spencer having made it appear 
to the Directors that he hath an inclination to become 
a member in the place of his deceased father, this was 
laid before the board and by signing the articles of 
agreement and paying the subscription he became a 
partner and a member also. 

275 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Robert Loller bectxnie a member in 17S7. Through 
him the library was incorporated in May of that year. 
The next advance steps were the purchase of a lot and 
the erection of a building. The present building was 
completed in 1S51. 

Perhaps some of the officers in the Continental 
army were early patrons of the library, for Hatboro was 
a center of operations for some time during the early 
months of 177 S. While Washington was at Valley 
Forge he commissioned General Lacey to see that the 
country between the Delaware and the Schuylkill 
rivers, a distance of thirty miles from the city, was 
thoroughly patrolled, so as to prevent the entrance of 
supplies mto Philadelphia while it was in the hands of 
the British. General Lacey 's headquarters were at 
Graeme Park and his supply depot was at Doylestown. 
Later the Crooked Billet became headquarters. 

A further task of moment was the guarding of the 
mills on the Neshaminy lest the large supplies of grain 
and flour prepared for Washington's men should be 
seized by foraging parties of the enemy. 

The instructions given to scouting parties were 
necessarily severe: 

If your party should meet with any people going to 
market, or any persons whatever going to the city, and 
they endeavor to make their escape, you will order 
your men to fire on the villains. You will leave them 
on the roads, their bodies and their marketing lying 
together. 

In April four hundred militia were encamped on 
the York Road above Ratboro. The commander's 
376 




OLD BARN AT HALLIWELL, 1788 




OLD KAKM llOli.^l., Hl.l\\l.i,.\ iJKV ].l.r.r()\\ N AM) i I..NTEHVILLE 




;\-; W^;"- vV .:; ■ 




TIIK OM) YOllK l{()A I) 

plan to i)r(5V<'nl, a .siirpri.s*'; by IIm' iriciny iMi,s<:»rri<'(I. 
General L.ury was in Ixd vvlirn a Ixxly of British, wiio 
had aiipioachrd from I'hila.drlphia, l)y way of Fox 
( !ha,S(% were (lis<'(>v<'n'<l willmi I wo hiiixln'*! yanis. 
Later it was foiiinl Ihat anolhcr parly ha<l stolen over 
to Jlorshain, to ent oil" I he rel.reat of Ih*- Airicriearis. 
In th(^ retnal. and l>al,l,l<; that followed, n)any men 
were killed. 

In tli(^ norl.hcrn limits of llalhoro, hy I Ik- side of 
the road, is a monnm< nt. which hears I his ins<ri|>tion: 

Crook«;d Jiillet IJatth; 
May 1st, 1778 
Ceneral John Lacey (-ommamlrd 
tlu; American l*atriots, who w<;re 
here engag(Hj in the eonlliet 
for In(l(;|)endenee. 

About seven y<.'ars after tlu^ enga^enu^nl eoniniem- 
orat(id by this monument, a Ikto of peace did some- 
thing not far away of whieh information is giv(tn on a 
tablet iixe.i] to the fence; by th<; roadside: 

John Fitch II<;re 

Conceivcid the idea of the 

first steamboat with 

Sid(;wheels 

on a [)ond Ix^low Davis- 

ville in 1785. 

This experiment pav<id tlie way for a trial of which 
Rembrandt Peah; told in a hitter to a friend written 
on July 13, 1848: 

In the spring of 1785, lu^aring there was something 
curious to b<; se(;n at th(; (loating bridge on the Schuyl- 
kill at Market Street, I eagerly ran to the apot, where 

277 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

I found a few persons collected and eagerly gazing at 
a shallop at anchor below the bridge with about 20 
persons on board. On the deck was a small furnace, 
and machinery connected with a coupling crank, pro- 
jecting over the stem to give motion to three or four 
paddles, resembling snow shovels, which hung into the 
water. When all was ready, and the power of steam 
was made to act, by means of which I was then ignorant, 
knowing nothing of the piston except in the*common 
pump, the paddles began to work, pressing against the 
water backward as they rose, and the boat, to my 
great delight, moved against the tide, without wind or 
hand, but in a few minutes it ran aground at an angle 
of the river, owing to the difficulty of managing the 
unwieldy rudder, which projected eight or ten feet. 
It was soon backed off and proceeded slowly to its 
destination at Gray's Ferry. So far it must have been 
satisfactory to Mr. Fitch in this his first public experi- 
ment. 

Later experiments were still more successful, and 
soon Fitch's boats were running regularly on the Del- 
aware. But diflSculties of various kinds followed, and 
the boats ceased to run. 

Another reminder of the days when the improve- 
ments that make life pleasant to-day were in their 
infancy is to be seen on the farm of John S. Engart, 
at Norriton road. In the rear of the farmhouse is a 
little frame building, weather-worn and falling into 
ruins, where the children of the neighborhood used to 
gather for instruction in the days before the organi- 
zation of the first free schools. It was the custom then 
to have subscription schools, where the expense would 
be shared by those benefited. 

The picturesque house near the old school attracts 

278 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

the attention of the visitor by its semicircular pillared 
veranda, and because of the curious cave house before 
the front door. 

The most famous school building in early Pennsyl- 
vania, the Log College of Gilbert Tennent, was located 
about a mile north of Hartsville. The building has 
entirely disappeared, but the work done by the modest 
institution has had its effect through all the years 
since it was opened in 1727. Many ministers were 
educated here, at a time when there was no opportu- 
nity at any other place within reach to secure the needed 
preparation for the work. About the time the Log 
College closed Princeton College began its work. While 
it cannot be said that Princeton is a direct outgrowth 
of the Log College, it is certain that the school at Harts- 
ville paved the way for the permanent institution. 

Gilbert Tennent supported himself by farming and 
preaching at Neshaminy Presbyterian Church, a mile 
from Hartsville, on the Neshaminy. This church was 
founded in 1710, and the building was erected in 1743, 
though it was remodeled in 1842. Four years before 
this building was occupied, George Whitefield, the 
great evangelist, wrote in his Journal: 

I set out for the Neshaminy, twenty miles distant 
from Trent Town, where old Mr. Tennent lives, and 
where I was to preach to-day, according to appoint- 
ment. About twelve o'clock we came thither, and 
found about three thousand people gathered together 
in the meeting-house yard. 

The church on the Neshaminy is now called Ne- 
shaminy of Warwick. In the village is Neshaminy of 

279 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Warminster Church. In early days a disagreement of 
the members was followed by an amicable division of 
the property. 

Some distance beyond the church in the village the 
York Road crosses the Little Neshaminy on an old- 
time covered bridge, and then passes the farmhouse 
of R. Sherman Robbins, built by William Keith in 
1763. On the front wall of the house is a tablet bearing 
this inscription: 

In this House Washington had 

his Headquarters from August 10 to 

August 23, 1777, with 13,000? men 

encamped near. 

Here the Marquis de Lafayette 

first joined the army. 

This tablet erected by the 
Bucks Co. Historical Society, 1897. 

This camp on the Little Neshaminy was note- 
worthy because here the army remained longer than 
at any other spot in Pennsylvania except Valley Forge 
and Whitemarsh; because Alexander Hamilton and 
John Marshall and James Monroe were among the 
officers; because here the flag adopted by Congress 
June 14, 1777, was first carried by the Continental 
Army; because here Washington felt it necessary to 
write to Benjamin Franklin, then in Paris, asking him 
to discourage the coming to America of European 
officers, lest it become necessary to refuse to employ 
them, or to employ them at the ex{>ense of one-half 
of the officers of the army. 

The appearance of the soldiers when Lafayette came 
280 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

to this camp has been described in Lafayette's Me- 
moirs in these vivid words: 

About eleven thousand men, ill armed and still 
worse clothed, presented a strange spectacle to the 
eye of the young Frenchman: their clothes were 
parti-colored, and many of them were almost naked; 
the best clad wore hunting shirts, large grey linen 
coats which were much used in Carolina. ... In spite 
of these disadvantages, the soldiers were fine, and the 
officers zealous; virtue stood in place of service, and 
each day added both to experience and discipline. 

On August 23, learning that the British fleet, on 
whose movements he had been waiting, was probably 
going north, Washington moved down Old York Road, 
and encamped near Nicetown. That evening from his 
headquarters at Stenton he issued a general order: 

The army is to remove precisely at 4 o'clock in the 
morning, if it should not rain. . . . The army is to 
march in one column through the City of Philadelphia, 
going in at'and marching down Front Street to Chestnut, 
and up Chestnut to the Common. A small halt is to be 
made about one mile this side of the city until the 
rear is clear up and the line in proper order. 

When Washington's men passed down the York 
Road they must have-seen Buckingham Meeting-House 
on the hill beyond Buckingham Road. This meeting, 
built in 1763, was used as a hospital when Washington 
was at Neshaminy. Many soldiers were buried here. 

The Indians called this region "The Vale of La 

Haska." Perhaps the most pleasing view is from the 

slope near "Ingham's Great Spring," as John Melish 

called it in 1822. The lake on the right below the 

281 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

spring and the old stone house behind the gnarled tree 
are features in an unusual landscape. 

In early days the York Road led to Coryell's Ferry 
on the Delaware, where Emmanuel Coryell carried 
travelers across the river. In 1732 he applied for the 
exclusive right of keeping ferry for a distance of three 
miles above and three miles below this point. Thir- 
teen years earlier the ferry was operated by John Wells. 

While at Coryell's Ferry Washington planned some 
of the important movements that made this section 
famous. It is said that at a conference with his gen- 
erals here he decided on the Battle of Trenton. From 
"Headquarters near Coryell's" (probably in Lambert- 
ville, New Jersey, opposite) the Commander-in-Chief 
wrote to Major General Arnold on June 22, 1778, that 
nearly all his troops had passed safely over the river. 
"As soon as we have cleaned the arms and can get 
matters in train," he wrote, '*we propose moving 
towards Princeton, in order to avail ourselves of any 
favorable occasions that may present themselves, for 
attacking or engaging the enemy." 

The name Lambertville was given to the settlement 
on the New Jersey side of the river in 1812, at the 
request of Hon. John Lambert, made to the Post OflSce 
Department. Abram Coryell, son of Emmanuel, the 
proprietor of the ferry house on the New Jersey side, 
was indignant; for some time he persisted in referring 
to the place as "Lambert's Villainy." 

John Coryell, brother of Abram, was proprietor of 
the ferry on the Pennsylvania side at this period, but 
it is not recorded that he interposed objections to the 
282 




ABANDONED FARM HOUSE, BETWEEN OLD YORK ROAD 
AND BUCKINGHAM STATION 
A study in gables and chimneys 




THE BENJAMIN PARRY HOUSE AT NEW HOPE (CORYELL's FERRY), 1784 




K 


13 




U 
^ 


W 




a 


"o 


z 


4) 



-« ^ 



^^.. 



THE OLD YORK ROAD 

substitution of the name New Hope for Coryell's Ferry. 
The change was made when Benjamin Parry, who 
owned mills in New Jersey that were destroyed by 
fire, replaced them by mills at Coryell's Ferry, which 
he called New Hope, as an expression of his desire for 
the future. 

In 1784 Mr. Parry built a fine stone mansion near 
the ferry landing. To-day the place is the home of 
Richard Randolph Parry, third in direct succession 
from the builder. 

From New Hope to Trenton a trolley runs along 
the historic New Hope Road, passing, within two miles 
of New Hope, the abandoned Neeley house, built in 
1757, where were quartered, just before the Battle of 
Trenton, Lieutenant James Monroe, later the fifth 
President of the United States, and other officers, 
including Captain James Moore, who died there and 
was buried near by. 

At Taylorsville, the next ferry below the Meeting 
House, a monument calls attention to the fact that 
here Washington and his men began the night crossing 
of the Delaware amid the ice floes, and so began the 
movement that crowned with glory expeditions center- 
ing about the Old York Road. 

Just before the crossing of the Delaware, a Phila- 
delphia friend spent an hour with the Commander-in- 
Chief at his headquarters near the Delaware. He told 
later of his impressions of Washington: 

He appeared much depressed and lamented the 
ragged and dissolving state of his army in affecting 
terms. I gave him assurance of the disposition of 

2S3 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Congress to support him, under his present difficulties 
and distresses. While I was talking to him I observed 
him to play with his pen and ink upon several small 
pieces of paper. One of these by accident fell upon the 
floor near my feet. I was struck with the inscription 
upon it. It was, "Victory or death." 

"Victory or death" was the countersign of the 
American troops at the Battle of Trenton. 



284 



XI 

TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

THE first portion of what became the King's 
Road to New York was in use in 1677. In 1681 
overseers were appointed by the Court at Up- 
land to repair the highway from Bristol to the Falls of 
the Delaware (Trenton). On the 22d of 6th month, 
1700, William Penn wrote to James Logan asking him 
to "urge the justices about the bridge at Pannepeck 
and Poquessin that he might be able to come to the 
city." On November 19, 1686, at a meeting held in 
Philadelphia, the Provincial Council ordered the road 
called the King's Highway to be laid out to Morris- 
ville. This was the first public road surveyed in 
Bucks County. 

There was no regular transportation line along the 
road until 1725. In that year an enterprising man 
advertised that four wheel chairs would be run, on 
notice to the proprietor, from the Three Tuns tavern, 
on Chestnut street, between Second and Third streets, 
all the way to Frankford. The fare was to be ten shil- 
lings. At intervals through the next thirty years an- 
nouncement was made of further ventures in trans- 
portation until it became possible to go all the way from 
Philadelphia to New York by stage wagons. The 
first stage coach through from Philadelphia to New York 
began to run in 1756; the time required was three days. 

285 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

In 1783 Johann Schoepf wrote: 

A diligence known as the Flying Machine makes 
daily trips between Philadelphia and New York, cover- 
ing the distance of 90 miles in one day, even in the 
hottest weather, but at the expense of the horses, only 
three times changed in the journey. Thus the last trip 
two horses died in harness, and four others were jaded. 
These flying machines are in reality only large wooden 
carts with tops, light to be sure, but neither conve- 
nient nor of neat appearance. They carry from ten to 
twelve passengers, are drawn by four horses only, and 
go very fast. The charge for the journey is 5-6 Span- 
ish dollars the passenger. 

In 1819 there were fourteen regular lines in oper- 
ation between the cities. One of these, the Citizens' 
Line, advertised in this way: 

For the express accommodation of the citizens of 
Philadelphia and New York the subscribers offer for 
their patronage a Line of Coaches, which for comfort 
and security shall not be surpassed by any line of 
coaches on the continent, to leave the U. S. Mail Coach 
oflfice, 30 South Third Street, daily at 5 o'clock and 
arrive at New York the same day in The Coach, which 
will cross the North River by Steam Boats. This Line 
will be under the same direction as the Mail Lines, and 
will carry six passengers only inside, and for 40 dollars 
the Coach can be taken by a party, who shall not be 
disturbed by way passengers. 

This was thought to be rapid transit, but it was 
slow in comparison to what was prophesied in 1814 by 
Oliver Evans, a Philadelphia merchant. He declared: 

The time will come when people will travel in stages 
moved by steam engines at fifteen to twenty miles an 
hour. A passenger will leave Washington in the mom- 

286 



L. Dublin Mctid: ; 




SECTIONS OF ROAD MAP FROM PHIL.ADELPHIA TO NEW YORK 

From "The Traveller's Directory," S. S. Moore and T. W. Jones, 1802 

(Continued on reverse side) 



J E R J S K Y 




TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

ing, breakfast in Baltimore, dine at Philadelphia, and 
sup at New York on the same day. Railways will be 
built of wood or iron, or on smooth paths of broken 
stone or gravel, to travel as well by night as by day. 
A steam engine will drive a carriage one hundred and 
eighty miles in twelve hours. Engines will drive boats 
ten or twelve miles an hour, and hundreds of boats will 
be run on the Mississippi and other waters, as wa3 
prophesied thirty years ago by Fitch. 

He attempted to prove the practicability of the 
steam carriage by building his curious Oructor Amphi- 
bolis, or Amphibious Digger, by means of which the 
Board of Health was to clean the docks. But he was 
years ahead of the time, and both his invention and 
his theories were ignored. 

Travel became easier when the road was made a 
turnpil<;e. In 1803 a company was chartered to com- 
plete the road to the ferry at Morrisviile, though the 
work was not finished until 1812. The first bridge at 
this point was not built until 1806. This was the sec- 
ond covered bridge in America. The cost of the road 
was $209,300. 

The tolls on this turnpike and on the road between 
Trenton and New York, and the charges on the ferry 
boats, were heavy. In 1800 the tolls on a coach 
from Philadelphia to New York were five dollars and 
a half. No wonder the turnpike paid a ten per cent 
dividend ! 

One of the early industries on the Bristol Road was 
the transportation of powder from the warehouse built 
by William Chancellor, at the direction of the Council, 
beyond the city limits, at the edge of a swamp. Here 

287 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHII^ADELPHIA 

all the gunpowder brought to the city was to be stored. 
Chancellor was required to be on hand two hours each 
morning and two hours each afternoon, to receive or 
deliver casks. It was provided that he should have 
twelve pence per barrel per month for his services. As 
there was a penalty of £12 for keeping elsewhere within 
two miles of the city a quantity of powder greater than 
twelve pounds. Chancellor had a fair income, and the 
carters who carried the powder to and from the city 
were in demand, though they were not at all willing to 
take the risk. 

History tells of other travelers on this old road who 
did not move with as much deliberation as the powder 
carriers. At five o'clock in the evening of April 24, 
1775, an express rider startled the people of Frankford 
by the tidings of the Battle of Lexington. He had 
ridden from Boston in five days, and had come from 
New York since two o'clock that morning. 

Eight years later, on December 8, 1783, there was 
a triumphal procession at the same point; George 
"Washington had come to town. The Pennsylvania 
Packet of December 9 told the story: 

His Excellency was met at Frankfort, by the Pres- 
ident of this State, the honorable the financiers, gen- 
erals St. Clair and Hand, the Philadelphia troop of 
horse, and a number of the citizens, who had the pleas- 
ure of conducting the General into the city. His ar- 
rival was announced by a discharge of cannon, the 
bells were rang, and the people testified their satisfac- 
tion, at once more seeing their illustrious chief, by 
repeated acclamations. 

In and round Frankford are many homes that 

288 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

speak eloquently of those days when history was made. 
One of these, Cedar Grove, at Harrowgate, on Tabor 
Road, close to the turnpike, was built by Mrs. Joseph 
Pasehall in 1748. The first owner of the land on which 
the house stands was Thomas Coates, a Friend, who 
came to Philadelphia in 1683, but left for England in 
1691, when word reached him that his brother-in-law, 
George Palmer, had been taken prisoner by Algerian 
pirates who held him for ransom. Soon after his 
return he planned for a home of his own, as is evident 
from this notice: 

At a Monthly meeting at the home of Robert Ewer 
the twenty -fifth day of the seventh month, 1696, Mary 
Sibthorp and Joan Forrest presented Thomas Coate 
and Beulah Jacoes a second time to this Meeting, and, 
after inquiry, nothing appeared to obstruct the pro- 
ceeding, they were left to consummate their Marriage 
in the face of God. 

In 1714 Mr. Coates bought land in Frankford and 
established a plantation. In 1748 his daughter built 
on part of the land two rooms on the first floor of the 
present Cedar Grove mansion, two rooms on the sec- 
ond floor, and the attic. This was thought to be suf- 
ficient, for her only purpose was to provide a sort of 
rest house for use during periodical visits to the planta- 
tion. But later, when she proposed to make a summer 
home here, the house was enlarged. The garden was 
a feature of special beauty. This was kept up till the 
house was abandoned in 1888 because of the encroach- 
ment of the railroad. 

The mineral spring near Cedar Grove was a pop- 

19 289 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

ular resort in the early days. To this came many trav- 
elers from the city and beyond. 

On Powder Mill Lane is the early home of Com- 
modore Stephen Decatur, who will always figure in 
American history because of his victories over the 
Algerian Pirates in the early years of the nineteenth 
century. The caretakers of the house proudly point 
to a pane of glass on which the name of Decatur was 
scratched with a diamond. 

Wain Grove, located to the east of the Pennsyl- 
vania tracks near the Frankford Station, was also a 
mere plantation house when the first section was built 
by Robert Wain, a Philadelphia merchant, once a 
member of the Assembly. Later the house was en- 
larged. Then the merchant lived here and made regu- 
lar trips to the city, in his family coach. This was 
provided with "a coachman in purple livery in front 
of the long body, swinging on the leathern strap, and 
two purple footmen standing on the footboard at the 
back." This house, also, has been abandoned. 

A third abandoned house is Port Royal, not far 
from Wain Grove, on Tacony Street. Edward Stiles, 
the builder, named the house after his birthplace in 
Bermuda. The story is told of Mrs. Stiles that on 
December 6, 1777, as she was driving in a chaise to 
Philadelphia, from Port Royal, her only companion 
being a boy servant, she was overtaken by a troop of 
British Light Horse, who took from her both horse and 
chaise, so that she had to walk to the city. 

An old mansion that may soon be sacrificed to the 
railroad is Chalkley Hall, located in the Y between 

290 




COMMODOKK STEPilEN DECATLH HuLsl;., WAS U^.H MilA. LANE, FRANKFORD 




POKT KOYAL, TAC<J^V fiTKEET, FKAN Kt'l >KU 




( II \l Kl I \ il \ I I , 1 H WKl old) 
Tli<- \siiiL' :il the left dates from 17-23 





BRIDGE OVER THE PENNYPACK, AT HOLMESBUliG 
Built in 1697 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

the New York Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
and the tracks leading to the Delaware bridge. The 
small wing was built before 1723, but the main part of 
the house dates from 1776. The stone of which the 
older portion was built was brought from England. 

The first owner, Thomas Chalkley, was born in 
London in 1675, and came to Philadelphia in 1701. He 
was a merchant and a mariner, but in later life he gave 
more time to his travels from Meeting to Meeting as 
a preacher than to his business. He removed from the 
city to a small plantation at Frankford in 1723, "in 
order to be more retired and for health's sake." At 
the time of his removal he spoke as if he would be 
unable to travel much more, yet he made many other 
long trips, enduring great hardships. In 1724, for 
instance, he told this incident: 

On the road my horse gave a sudden and violent 
start out of the path, and threwi me down, and before 
I could get up again, he struck my face and on my 
right eye with his foot, being newly shod, which stunn'd 
me for the present; but as soon as I open'd that eye 
which was unhurt, I perceived that I lay on my back, 
under my horse's belly, with my head between his fore 
feet. 

His wounds were nursed, at a farmhouse near by, 
for several days; then he was taken to his home at 
Frankford, "where," he wrote, "my longing wife with 
some surprize, received me very affectionately and 
thro her care and continual application, I recover'd, 
that I could see fairly well with spectacles, which I 
was obliged to use for some months." 

Then he moralized a bit : 

291 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

Such accidents plainly show us the necessity for 
preparing for sudden death, as we know not when, or 
how, we may go off the stage of this life. 

Of another accident he told thus: 

It had been a time of pretty much rain, and the 
waters thereby being out and high, going over a ford, 
my mare got among the rock (it being a very rocky 
creek). She fell down, and the stream being very 
strong, she rowled upon me, and, being intangled with 
the Stirrip, I could not easily clear myself, but I gave 
a spring from her, and tried to clear myself from her; 
and when I was clear, I got to her again, and laid hold 
of her mane, and thro' the good providence of God, 
got well out with the mare on dry land, which was a 
remarkable deliverance. 

In 1725 he had a third trying accident: 

My cart wheel, being iron bound, ran over me, and 
my horse kick'd me on the head; the wheel put my 
shoulder out, and the horse wounded my head so that 
the scul was bare, and my leg was sorely bruised. 

Thomas Chalkley's daughter Rebecca married Abel 
James in 1747, and Chalkley Hall passed to them. 
Mr. James was a member of the tea-importing firm of 
James & Drake. On October 16, 1773, an indignation 
meeting was held at the State House in Philadelphia 
because word had come of the approach of the tea ship 
Polly, under consignment to the firm. The meeting 
was held some time before the meeting in Boston 
which led to the famous tea party. 

At the urgent request of the citizens the consignees 
promised not to receive the vessel. 

Later Mr. James employed himself in building the 

292 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

larger portion of the house. This was completed long 
before Whittier's visit in 1838. It was after the visit 
that the Quaker poet wrote the poem "Chalkley Hall," 
finding his inspiration in the story of the voyages and 
missionary labors of its first owner: 

O, far away, beneath New England's sky, 

Even when a boy. 
Following my plough by Merrimack's green shore, 
His simple record I have pondered o'er 

With deep and quiet joy. 

And hence this scene, in sunset glory warm, — 

Its woods around. 
Its still stream winding on in light and shade, 
Its soft, green meadows and its upland shade, — 

To me is holy ground. 

On September 27, 1745, Isaac Norris, who married 
Mary Logan of Stenton, passed the site of this house 
when he was on his way to Albany to obey a commis- 
sion given to him and his party by the Assembly ; they 
were to hold a conference with the Indians of the Five 
Nations who had been requested by the French to 
take up the hatchet with other Indians. From his 
home in Fair Hill Norris went on to Stenton, then 
crossed to Frankford, and took the Bristol Road to 
New York. 

In 1787 a traveler on the road who came from the 
opposite direction. Dr. Manasseh Cutler of Connecti- 
cut, wrote of his impressions of the country about 
Frankford: 

The numerous stacks of grain in the field demon- 
strated the richness of the soil. ... At almost every 

293 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

house the farmers and their wives were sitting in the 
cool enterior, or under the piazzas and shady trees 
about their doors. I observed the men generally wore 
fine Holland shirts with the sleeves plaited, the women 
in clean, cool, white dresses, enjoying the ease and 
pleasure of domestic life, with few cares, less labor, 
and abounding plenty. 

The milestones now on the road are not the stones 
that were seen by these old travelers; the present 
stones were placed by the Bristol Turnpike Company 
during the construction of the road in 1804 and later. 
An interesting story about these earlier stones, none 
of which have been located, is found in the minutes of 
the Philadelphia Contributionship : 

May 16th 1764: Peter Reeve, Joseph Saunders, 
and Thomas Wharton, who were requested by the 
Board of Directors to apply the Fines arising from non- 
attendance of the Directors since the year 1761 in 
purchasing milestones, made the following report, viz: 

"We the Subscribers beg leave to Report to the 
Directors of the Fire Insurance Ofl&ce, that. Agreeable 
to their Request 'that we would procure a sufficient 
Number of Milestones and fix them on the Road lead- 
ing to Trenton Ferry and apply to such persons as 
would be capable of Measuring the Distance, and 
placing them properly,' That you would pay the Cost 
and expence thereof out of the Fines that were paid by 
the Directors for Non attendance since the year 1761. 

"We procured the Stones, and apply'd to John 
Lukins, Surveyor General, Philip Syng, Jacob Lewis, 
and Thomas Gordon, Gentn. to join us in measuring 
the Distance from Philadelphia, to the Edge of the 
River at the Ferry leading to Trenton, who Cheerfully 
undertook the Serving, and on the 15th Instant at 5 o 
Clo. in the Morning we began to Measure from the 

294 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

Middle of Market Street in Front Street, and at the 
Distance of each Mile, affix'd or planted a Stone marked 
with proper Characters to describe the Distance from 
this City, and when arrived at the Ferry found it to 
be 29 Miles & 24 Chams to the Edge of the River, 
having passed thro' the New Road leading thro' Penns- 
burg Manner, as it is the most direct and likely to be 
used, the distance being short'ned more than One mile. 
"The Cost of the Stones, with the expence attend- 
ing the planting them amounts to Thirty three pounds 
Seven shillings, and five pence. We having purchased 
two Stones more than was necessary, being numbd. 
30 & 31 Gave them to Nathl. Parker who promised to 
fix them on the Road leading to New York." 

Up to this time there were no milestones. In 1748 
Peter Kalm said "the inhabitants only computed 
distances by guess." 

A short distance beyond the ninth milestone is 
the old General Wayne Tavern. When such an inn was 
opened in the days of the stage coach's glory, the pro- 
prietor was apt to prepare some such announcement as 
the following, which was published in 1816 by the 
Washington Inn of Holmesburg: 

Ye good and virtuous Americans, come! Whether 
business or pleasure be your object — Call and be re- 
freshed at the sign of Washington. Here Money and 
merit will secure you respect and honor and a hearty 
welcome to choice liquors and to sumptuous fare. Is 
it cold? You shall find a comfortable fire. Is it warm? 
Sweet repose in a cool and grassy shade. In short, 
every exertion shall be made to grace the sign of the 
hero and statesman who was "First in war, first in 
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.'* 

Perhaps the man who wrote this was familiar with 

295 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

the exuberant lines in " The Flourishing State of Penn- 
sylvania," written in 1686 by Judge John Holme, who 
lived in this neighborhood. In the course of this long 
poem of strange meter, or no meter, he called attention to 

The gardners of the soil, the cheapness of the land. 
The trees so abundant in variety 

That scarcely any man can name them all; 
The fruits and nuts, strawberries and plumbs, 

Which pleaseth those well, who to eat them comes. 

Beyond the River Road is an old estate noted 
eighty years ago for its luxuriant fruits and flowers. 
This is now the Edwin Forrest Home for Actors, but 
at that time it was the country seat of Caleb Cope, who 
bought it from Josiah W. Gibbs, to whom the estate 
came from the descendants of Judge Holme. Mr. 
Gibbs bought the property in 1810 and built the man- 
sion. During Mr. Cope's ownership the grounds were 
planted with rare and beautiful flowers, shrubs and 
trees. Greenhouses were filled with blooming plants, 
there were luxuriant grape arbors, and at the end of 
the house was a stone wall banked with ferns and 
mosses. From far and near visitors came to this bower 
of beauty. 

Holmesburg is located on a creek of many names. 
The English form is Pennepack, and the Indian meaning 
of the word is "deep, dead water." The earliest 
Swedish map called the stream Penischpaska Kil, 
while a variation was Penickpackakyl. William Penn 
in 1701 called it Pemmapecka. 

The turnpike recrosses the stream on one of the 
oldest bridges in the country. In 1697 the stones were 

296 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

laid, and ever since it has done its work well. It was 
widened when the trolley was built along the road, 
and the only part of the structure that has called for 
repair is the modern retaining wall. 

On the bank of the creek a short distance toward 
the Delaware are the walls of a mill built the same 
year as the bridge. The stone for the walls was quar- 
ried near by, but the bricks used in its construction 
were imported from England. Until 1880 the mill was 
in use, vessels coming up the creek for cargoes of flour 
and corn meal. On October 11, 1880, it was burned, 
but the walls are as strong as ever. 

For generations schoolboys crossed this bridge on 
their way to Lower Dublin Academy, a short distance 
beyond the bridge, within sight of the turnpike. Thomas 
Holme, William Penn's Surveyor General, was the 
founder of the school. When he died he left a legacy of 
£4 to be used for school purposes, or to put out some 
young man to learn a trade. Not until 1723 was any 
action taken by his executors. At that time an acre 
and a half was set aside for a school site, and a log 
schoolhouse was erected. This was used later as the 
residence of the principal, and it is now a part of the 
janitor's house, located beyond the present schoolhouse. 
In this primitive building Stephen Decatur went to 
school. 

The Academy became so popular that a larger 
building was needed, and in 1794 steps were taken to 
provide funds for it. The Trustees were incorporated, 
and Governor MiflBin authorized a lottery. The 
profits from this were not satisfactory; though $35,000 

297 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

in tickets were sold, expenses and prizes used more than 
thirty-one thousand of the amount, and the Trustees 
looked with dissatisfaction on the thirty-eight hundred 
dollars remaining. 

The new building was in use in 1800, though it was 
not completed until 1808. The cost was $5,124.21. 
Included in the total were such expenses as "1 Qut of 
rum for the porters hauling loges," 2 shillings, and "7 
Quts Rum, for the Raising," sixteen shillings and four 
pence. 

It was required of pupils that they attend from 
eight to five daily with an intermission for lunch. Holi- 
days were granted "every other Saturday, a week -dur- 
ing Harvest, the day of the general election, and the 
25th of December, commonly called Christmas day.'* 

Those who look at the academy building from the 
road think there is a clock in the front gable, but close 
inspection shows that a good place for a clock is boarded 
up. For many years there was a clock here, and it was 
the pride of all Holmesburg. 

The story of this clock is interesting. Edward 
Duffield, a jeweler and clock-maker, had a storeTat 
Second and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, where Wash- 
ington and Franklin were frequent visitors. During 
one of his visits Franklin, annoyed by the frequent 
interruption of those who came in to ask the time, 
suggested to the proprietor that he construct a clock 
with two faces, to be placed before the store in such a 
way that passersby on either street might see it. The 
suggestion was followed, and soon Duffield's clock was 
looked on as a standard timekeeper. 

298 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

The clockmaker, who hved near the academy, was 
President of the Trustees, and when the new building 
was nearly completed he decided to give the clock to 
the institution. A place was made for it, and on Octo- 
ber 20, 1802, the thirty pound shot used for a weight 
was raised and the clock began to keep time in the new 
location. There it remained until it was worn out. 

Thomas Holme, who was responsible for the acad- 
emy, is buried under the trees in the field back of the 
institution. The monument above his grave was built 
by the trustees. 

The academy building is now the property of the 
school district, but the trustees, who maintain their 
organization because of the Thomas Holme Library, 
which was an outgrowth of the academy foundation, 
still hold their annual May meeting in the original 
academy building, a structure so low that a man of 
medium height feels that he must stoop if he would 
not strike the ceiling. 

Lower Dublin Academy's first building was in its 
youth when the Red Lion Inn, across the Poquessing, 
was built. In 1730 Philip Amos applied for a license 
to keep a public-house "near Poquessing Creek, on 
the highway from Philadelphia to Bristol." Seven- 
teen years later, when a survey of the road was ordered, 
it was noted that the Widow Amos had succeeded in 
control of the Red Lion. A tablet on the wall of the 
inn states that the delegates from Massachusetts to 
the first Continental Congress dined here on August 
27, 1774. 
/ Captain Benjamin Laxley, of the Philadelphia 

299 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

artillery, once stopped here on his way to Amboy. 
Having started from Frankford at five o'clock in the 
morning, the men were hungry when they reached the 
inn at nine o'clock. A demand was made on the pro- 
prietor for breakfast, but he said that he did not have 
enough bread for five men; how then could he feed 
one hundred? 

In 1783 Johann Schoepf, after passing many such 
inns as the Red Lion, wrote: 

The taverns in the Country are recognizable, even 
at a distance, by a sort of gallows arrangement which 
stands out over the road and exhibits the patron of the 
house. So far we have observed many times the coun- 
terfeit presentment of Frederick the Second, Bang of 
Prussia, hung up in this way, that monarch having 
been a great favorite of the Americans ever since the war 
before the last. We still found a few Georges, let hang 
perhaps out of sympathy, but of Queens of England 
we saw a good many. We have as yet seen no King of 
France, but a number of Washingtons and still more 
numerous Benjamin Franklins — the latter makes a par- 
ticularly alluring sign if everything else is as well kept. 

A traveler who told of his journeys in this region 
in 1817 gave a good idea of the fare provided at such 
an inn as the Red Lion: 

The innkeepers of America are, in most villages, 
what we call, vulgarly, "topping men," field officers 
of militia, with good farms attached to their taverns, 
so that they are apt to think, what perhaps in a newly- 
settled country is not very wide of the truth, that 
travelers rather receive than confer a favor by being 
accommodated at their houses. They always give us 
plentiful fare, particularly breakfast, where veal-cut- 
300 




BRIDGE OVER THE POQUESSIXG AT TORRESDALE 




THE RED LION INN, ON THE POQUESSING, 1730 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

lets, sweetmeats, cheese, eggs, and ham were most 
liberally set before us. Dinner is a little more than a 
repetition of breakfast, with spirits instead of coffee. 
I never heard wine called for. The American drink is 
a small cider. Rum, whiskey, and brandy are placed 
upon the table, and the use of these left to the discre- 
tion of the company, who seem rarely to abuse them. 
Tea is a meal of the same solid construction as break- 
fast, answering also for supper. The daughters of the 
host ojfficiate at tea and breakfast, and generally wait 
at dinner. 

William Ellery, who passed this way to Philadelphia, 
did not have such a pleasing experience. His comment 
at one roadside inn was: 

Fared pooriy and paid highly. The most noted 
Taverns do not always afford the best entertainment. 

Not far from the Red Lion Inn on the Delaware is 
the beautiful estate Andalusia, whose first owner was 
John Craig, a Philadelphia merchant, who purchased 
it in 1794. His partner, a Spaniard named Sarmiento, 
suggested that the Spanish name Andalusia be given 
to it. The mansion was erected at once. It soon 
became a social center for Philadelphia people. 

In 1811 Craig's only daughter married Nicholas 
Biddle, whose father won fame as a Revolutionary 
patriot, and as Vice President of the Commonwealth 
in 1776, when Franklin was president. During the 
residence at Andalusia of Mr. and Mrs. Biddle the 
house was enlarged, and the Grecian front was added 
by the same architect who designed the main building 
of Girard College. 

The present owner of Andalusia, Charies J. Biddle, 

/ 301 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

preserves the old formal garden, surrounded on two 
sides by high, ivy-covered brick walls. A hedge- 
bordered path through the center of the garden dates 
from 1815. In the center of the garden is a tree under 
which, it is said, Daniel Webster more than once con- 
sulted Nicholas Biddle on affairs of state. 

A legend popular in the neighborhood is that Black- 
beard the Pirate buried treasure in the island near the 
mouth of the Poquessing. Many people have tried 
to prove the truth of the story by digging for the treas- 
ure, but as yet no one has succeeded in the attempt. 

Opposite Andalusia is Penn Rhyn, the home of 
Mrs. Seton Henry. The mansion dates from 1744, 
when Abraham Bickley married Miss Shewell, sister 
of the wife of Benjamin West, the artist. At first he 
called the estate Belle Voir. The house was remodeled 
in 1793. 

Beyond Penn Rhyn, on the Delaware, is the famous 
State in Schuylkill Fishing Club, organized in 1732, 
for social purposes, by leaders in the colony, including 
James Logan. The first club house was built on the 
Schuylkill, near the present Girard Avenue Bridge. 
The organization was the same as that of the Colony 
of Pennsylvania, and the club thought of itself as hav- 
ing colonial rights. An early proclamation was in this 
dignified form : 

Colony of Schuylkill ss. 

To , SCHULKILLIAN, 

AND ALL OTHER ScHULKILLIANS 
WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 

Whereas great quantities of rabbits, squirrels, pheas- 

" 302 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

ants, partridges, and others of the game kind, have 
presumed to infest the coasts and territories of Schuyl- 
kill in a wild, bold and ungovernable manner; 

THESE are therefore to authorize and require you, 
or any of you to make diligent search for the said rabbits, 
squirrels, pheasants, partridges, and others of the game 
kind in all suspected places where they may be found, 
and bring the respective bodies of so many as you shall 
find,?before Justices, &c, at a general Court to be held 
on Thursday the fourth day of October next, there to 
be proceeded against as by the said court shall be 
adjudged, and for you or any of you so doing this shall 
be your suflScient warrant. 

Witness, myself, the twenty-ninth day of Septem- 
ber, in the twelfth year of my Government, and Year 
of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty- 
four. 

Thomas Stretch. 
(L. S.) 

In 1747 the Colony built a Castle which cost £16, 
7, 9. For the ground it was decreed that an annual 
rent of three fresh perch should be paid. 

During the Revolution meetings were not held, but 
after the war the Colony was reorganized as the State 
in Schuyklill, having declared its independence of 
Great Britain. Fort St. David's, another fishing club 
on the Schuylkill, which had maintained the organ- 
ization of a garrison, united with the State in Schuyl- 
kill. 

The building of the Fairmount Dam destroyed the 
fishing at the original location, and in 1822 the castle 
was loaded on a barge and taken to Rambo's Rock, 
opposite Bartram's Gardens. Three years later La- 
fayette was the guest of the Club. He was told that 

' 303 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

his visit completed his "tour of all the states in the 
union." Then he was made a member and signed the 
book. 

For fifty years the Club remained at Gray's Ferry. 
Then, for twelve years, a temporary home at the mouth 
of the Wissahickon was occupied, but in 1888 the 
castle at Gray's Ferry was taken on a barge to the 
new location on the Delaware. Here the ancient 
castle was erected not far from the mansion long known 
as the Clock House, which was purchased by the State 
in Schuylkill. 

A portion of this brick mansion dates from 1732. 
The name Clock House was given to it because of a 
circular window in the front gable, in which, for sixty 
years, a light burned on stormy nights for the guidance 
of the bargemen on the river. From the stream, in 
the daytime, the window looked like a huge clock. 

The membership of the club that occupies this 
building, said to be the oldest English-speaking club 
in the world, is limited to thirty, with a few apprentices. 
It still observes the curious by-laws that have come 
down from colonial days. These state that an appren- 
tice shall ring the alarm bell in the steeple ofi the Castle 
to summon the citizens to meeting when thereunto 
directed by the Governor or other presiding oflficer. 
"It is further decreed that the apprentices shall not 
take seats at the dinner table with the members and 
guests until after the second royal toast has been 
drunk, unless invited by the Governor." 

Less than a mile from the State in Schuylkill, Dunk's 
Ferry Road leads directly to the river. Here is the 
304 




PENN RHTN, 1749 
The home of Mrs. Seton Henry 




THE OLD CLOCK HOUSE, 173!^, AND THE CASTLE OF THE STATE-IN-SCHUYLKILL, 
NEAR EDDINGTON 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTONj 

old Dunk's Ferry Hotel, which dates from 1733.' In early 
days, when there was a popular crossing at this point, 
the hotel had many patrons. On December 12, 1776, 
General Washington asked that Dunk's Ferry be care- 
fully guarded, lest the British should land there. When 
he was about to cross the Delaware on his way to sur- 
prise the Hessians at Trenton, the order was given that 
cooperating troops should cross the river at this point. 
An attempt was made, but "floating ice rendered the 
passage of the river impracticable," according to the 
report of the leader to whom the command was given. 

Fortunately Washington was made of sterner stuff 
than the leader of the forces at Dunk's Ferry. Float- 
ing ice could not hold him back when he had made up 
his mind that the river must be crossed. 

From Dunk's Ferry it is not far to Eddington, on 
the turnpike, where Neshaminy Creek (called Sham- 
mony by Poor Will's Almanac, in 1770) may be crossed 
by a bridge that is a trifle more substantial than the 
"indifferent floating bridge" of which the Traveller's 
Directory of 1802 told. Over this bridge the toll for 
man and horse was six cents, and for a coach and four 
horses thirty-seven and a half cents. 

The first attempt to supplant the ferry by a bridge 
was made by John Butler, in 1773. He completed the 
approach for a floating bridge, but most of this was 
destroyed by a storm. 

Many of the travelers who crossed the Neshaminy 
at this point traveled in the plebeian horse and chair. 
In 1767 Elizabeth Drinker told of an adventure she had 
when driving with a child in one of these vehicles: 

20 305 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

A young fellow on a mad Colt galloped against our 
Mare with such force as occasioned my falling out of 
the Chair; having the child in my arms asleep, and 
endeavoring to save it, I fell with all my weight on my 
right foot, and hurt it so much that I was unable to 
set it to ye ground for upwards of 3 weeks. Ye child, 
through mercy, escaped unhurt. I have lately met 
with so many frights that I cannot bear to think of 
riding with any satisfaction. 

Samuel Breck in 1789 described a chair vividly: 

A friend lent me a sulky, which v/as nothing more 
than a common arm-chair placed on leather traces, 
and suspended over a couple of wheels. The whole 
carriage was scarcely heavier than a wheelbarrow. 

When the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad was 
chartered in 1832, both the law-makers and the pro- 
moters thought it might be necessary to continue such 
primitive means of transportation. This is evident 
from the fact that the company was authorized: 

To place on the railroad machines, wagons, vehicles, 
carriages, and teams of any kind, and to transport 
goods and passengers, said road to be a public high- 
way for conveyance of passengers, and transportation, 
under rates to be charged by the Company. 

Probably, however, the people thought that such 
a roadway for their accustomed vehicles would be a 
vast improvement over the conditions described by 
a traveler long before the turnpike was built: 

Stumps of trees, left uprooted for Time to consume, 
yet impede your progress even in the much frequented 
road between the two largest cities in the United States. 
Several miles immediately before you enter Trenton 
the road is so bad that the driver, with whom I chose 
306 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

to sit, told me his horses stalled, that is, were for some 
time unable to drag the wagon over the worst places. 
He also said that the road had not been repaired within 
his memory. 

Only eight years before the railroad was chartered 
Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, 
wrote to Mrs. Morse after a trip over the turnpike: 

In the land carriage we occupied three stages over 
a very rough road. In crossing a small creek in a ferry- 
boat the stage ahead of ours left the boat a little too 
soon and came near upsetting in the water, which 
would have put the passengers into a dangerous sit- 
uation. As it was, the water came into the carriage 
and vv'et some of the baggage. It was about an hour 
before they could get the stage out of the water. 

Next came our turn. After traveling a few miles, 
the springs on one side gave way and let us down, 
almost upsetting us. We got out with difficulty and, 
in a few minutes, by putting a rail under one side, we 
proceeded on again, jocosely tellmg the passengers in 
the third stage that it v/as their turn next. 

The good-natured prophecy was fulfilled, for later 
in the day, when the stage in which Mr. Morse was a 
passenger had halted, it was overtaken by the third 
stage, "with a rail under one side, having met with 
a similar accident a few miles after we left them." 

In 1806 John Melish gave a sketch of travel condi- 
tions that should be preserved with the letter from 
Morse: 

There had been an accident to the coach. A spring 
broke, and a rail was taken from a fence and stuck 
under the wagon to support the weight of the passen- 
gers. It was very usual to see on the roads at this time 

307 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

vehicles from whose running gears fence rails and the 
trunks of small trees, often with the boughs still at- 
tached, were dragged along behind. 

The weary passengers did not even have the com- 
fort of seeing all the sights along the way; some of the 
most pleasing estates were located along byways. One 
such byway, China Lane, leads toward the Delaware 
from Croydon. At the end of the lane is China Hall, 
a wooden building, lined with brick, whose builder was 
Andreas Everardus Van Braam Houckgeest, who was 
once ambassador from Holland to China. William 
Penn transferred the property to William Noble in 
1683. In these early days the estate was called Rocky 
Mount, and later Benger's Mount. It is said that 
Joseph Bonaparte, the King of Spain, who lived in 
Bordentown, New Jersey, after his exile from France, 
looked longingly at China Hall, but he was unable to 
buy it, because at that time a foreigner could not hold 
property in Pennsylvania. 

Bonaparte was frequently seen in this neighbor- 
hood. Sometimes he Vi^ould cross the river on his state 
barge, rowed by four men, with American and French 
flags flying fore and aft. At other times he drove 
over, by way of Trenton. On one of these visits he 
had an accident that might have been serious. While 
crossing a "fail back," the name given to a temporary 
ditch dug across the road for drainage purposes, the 
driver was thrown from his seat; Bonaparte jumped 
out hastily and fell on his head. A passing physician 
took the injured man to Bristol, and cared for him at 
the Delaware House. 
308 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

Across the lane from China Hall is the noble build- 
ing of Bristol College, abandoned and fast falling into 
ruins. The institution was opened in 1834 as a manual 
training school. One who has told of the early days of 
the school says that the students would stand in line 
before China Hall while the president would iSrst 
review the crowds and then send off the road section 
and the farm section and the shop section. Later on 
this was the seat of a military school, and still later of 
a Friends' boarding school for boys. A companion 
school for girls was held in China Hall. During the 
Civil War the Bristol College became a government 
hospital. 

Bristol College is a giddy young thing when com- 
pared with the town of Bristol. In 1681 Samuel Clift 
secured from Sir Edward Andros, Provincial Governor 
of New York, a grant of 262 acres including the pres- 
ent site of Bristol. There he made his home, some 
months before William Penn secured his grant from 
Charles II. In June, 1695, at a conference at the house 
of Phinehas Pemberton, at the Fails of Delaware, "it 
was shown that the county had as yet no market house; 
that for this purpose the ferry opposite Burlington was 
regarded as a good location; that ways and streets had 
been projected there." So the governor and council 
were asked to alter or confirm streets and grant a weekly 
market. The request was pronounced "verie reason- 
able," and in 1696 the town plot of Bristol was laid 
down. Thus it became the third oldest town in 
Pennsylvania, Chester and Philadelphia only being 
older. 

309 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

One of the early buildings in the new town was the 
Friends' Meeting House. In 1701 "it's concluded there 
be a good, substantial house built, either of brick or 
stone," and Friends were appointed to find "the con- 
venientest place." The bricks for the original building 
were brought from England. Completed in 1713, the 
structure stood till 1728, when it was taken down and 
rebuilt. The work was not finished till 1756. Dur- 
ing the Revolution the new building was used 
as a hospital. On September 15, 1778, four Friends 
were appointed "to get the meeting house cleared of 
the troops at the little end of the house so that it may 
be used to meet in." 

When the turnpike to Trenton was to be built 
through the town, it was the intention to lay it out in 
the shortest and straightest possible manner. But the 
proprietors of four taverns on the main street petitioned 
that the route might be changed so as to pass these 
taverns. The directors agreed to make the change, 
provided the town would pay five thousand dollars 
toward the cost of the road. 

An early visitor to Bristol, Alexander Mackraby, 
wrote in January, 1768, to Sir Philip Francis, concern- 
ing one of the pleasures of the road at the time, sleigh 
riding: 

I had a very cheery one a few daj^^s ago. Seven 
sleighs with two ladies and two men in each, preceded 
by fiddlers on horseback, set out together upon a 
snow of about a foot deep on the roads, to a public 
house a few miles from town, where we danced, sung 
and romped, and eat and drank, and finish'd our frolic 
in two or three side boxes at the play. You can have 
310 




CHTXA HALL, >TLVR CROTDOX 




BOLTOX ^VN 

The rear w;is buflt in 1690. ; ': the country home of 

'Mr. Etfiuih.ici B. Morrii 




THE TOWN HALL, BRISTOL 
Built to save a legacy of $900 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

no idea of the pulse, seated with pretty women, mid- 
deep in snow, your body covered with fur and 
fiannell, clear air, bright sunshine, and spotless 
sky, horses galloping, every feeling turned to joy 
and jollity. 

A few years later the residents of Bristol had other 
things to think of than frolics. All through the Revo- 
lution the town was a witness of stirring events. In 
1775 many prisoners were brought here from Quebec. 
Some passed through Bristol to Easton, but many 
others were quartered on the town for some months. 
At this time there were but fifty houses in the village, 
so the presence of the foreigners created much excite- 
ment. During December, 1776, just before the Battle 
of Trenton, many soldiers were to be seen on Rad- 
cliffe Street. Lafayette, after receiving his wounds at 
Brandywine, was taken to Bethlehem by way of Bristol. 
During the British occupation of Philadelphia a com- 
pany of loyalists took the town. And in September, 
1781, the French and American armies tramped 
through Bristol on the way to meet Cornwallis in 
Virginia. 

After the Revolution there was excitement of a dif- 
ferent nature. The Bath Springs, just outside the bor- 
ough limits, became famous among health-seekers and 
fashionable people both at home and abroad. They 
had been known as early as 1700, but the medicinal 
value of the water was not appreciated; early settlers 
spoke of it slightingly as "that nasty water." In 1773 
Dr. Rush recommended it as a cure for many diseases, 
yet for some years few visitors were attracted by the 

311 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

springs. But when the people did begin to come, there 
was a rush: 

The daily appearance of the old stage wagon, the 
arrival and departure of guests, the travel to and fro 
from the Bath Springs, the daily landing of the river 
boats, gave the old town the appearance of prosperity. 
Two race courses, one below Bristol, and the other at 
the Springs, enlivened the town. 

The popularity of the resort was at its height in 
1816, when a ball was held at the Springs in celebration 
of the close of the War of 1812. Visitors came from 
far and near. 

Outside of the great, lumbering coach, which every 
family of means possessed in those days, the only means 
of conveyance was by stage. The turnpike between 
Philadelphia and Trenton had been completed but a 
short time and three rival lines of stages jolted the 
guests over the road. 

The discovery of Saratoga Springs in 1822 and the 
State law closing the race track sounded the death 
knell of the Springs, though the bath houses were not 
removed until 1870. 

The Bristol Town Hall on Radcliffe Street is a curi- 
ous building with a curious story. In 1811 Samuel 
Scotton devised $200 to the borough for the purchase 
of a town clock, the money to be paid provided the 
council should build a hall to receive the clock, within 
five years after the death of his wife. The widow lived 
for fifteen years, and the officials lost sight of the leg- 
acy during the interval. One day, four years and ten 
months after her death, the Burgess discovered the 
312 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

record. Two valuable weeks were frittered away in a 
discussion of location. There were those who wanted 
the hall built so that travelers on the Delaware could 
see that Bristol had a town clock. When the present 
location on Radcliffe Street was decided on, but six 
weeks remained for the erection of the building. Oper- 
ations were begun about the middle of November, 
1831, and on December 31 the structure was roofed in, 
the legacy was paid, and the clock was secured. An 
early historian calculated that the town had spent 
$3781 to secure a gift of $^200! 

A six-mile ride from Bristol on the Beaver Dam 
Road leads to a house that antedates the founding of 
the borough. This is Bolton Farm, the country- home 
of Effingham B. Morris, in whose possession are the 
original deeds from William Penn. The estate is one 
of the most beautiful in the vicinity of Philadelphia. 

Bolton Farm was originally the property of Phinehas 
Pemberton, who came from England on the Submis- 
sion, sailing a few days later than William Penn. On 
November 17, 1683, he bought five hundred acres 
on the Delaware. At first he lived in a house near the 
Falls, built in 1690. The original house is the smaller 
portion of the present mansion. The larger portion 
was built in 1790. The property came into the Morris 
family through the marriage of Mary Pemberton to 
Anthony Morris, who was fifth in descent from the 
original settler of that name. 

Much of the land between Tullytown and Morris- 
ville, from the railroad to the river, was included in 
William Penn's Manor of Pennsbury, which he laid 

313 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

out in 1683. On the bank of the river, opposite New- 
bold Island, he built a mansion at a cost of £7000, of 
materials imported from England. Here he lived_^but 
a few months. In 1701 he left the Manor, never to 
return. The mansion was torn down just before the 
Revolution. Its site was probably about where the 
farmhouse of William Leedom now stands. To reach 
this point, follow the lower or river road out of Tully- 
town, and take the fourth lane on the right. The turn- 
pike may be regained by a road that leads directly to 
Morrisville. 

From the site of the Manor of Pennsbury to Morris- 
ville the distance is short. In Morrisville, near the 
main business comer, is the house where George Cly- 
mer died. He was one of the first and foremost in 
opposition to Great Britain, a member of the Council 
of Safety, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
Continental Treasurer, and member of Congress. At 
the time of his death, January 23, 1813, the house was 
the property of his son. 

Near the river end of the street on which is the 
bridge over the canal, is an inn, now closed, the rear 
portion of which dates from before the Revolution. 
In this old portion Washington and many of his gen- 
erals, as well as countless men of prominence in the 
colonies, must have dined when on their way to or from 
Philadelphia, for the inn was located near the entrance 
to the ferry. 

Judging from the accounts of some early travelers, 
many of those who used this ferry at Morrisville thought 
it a dangerous passage. 
314 



TO BRISTOL AND TRENTON 

John Bernard wrote in 1797: 

Our enjoyment of this ride was interrupted by an 
event which had nearly proved a very awful coinci- 
dence. On crossing the ferry at Trenton, in one of 
those flat-bottomed, low-sided, Dutch floats called 
scows, Morris began to relate the circumstances of hav- 
ing lost his first wife in this river some twenty years 
before, through the four horses of the stage taking 
fright, leaping over, and dragging the coach after them; 
the rapidity of the tide and the weight of the vehicle 
sending it to the bottom with more than half the pas- 
sengers. He had scarcely concluded this horrifying 
narration when the square sail of the boat, flapping 
suddenly in the leader's faces, like a shot over they 
instantly sprang, and, but for the dexterity of the 
blacks in cutting their traces, there is no doubt we 
should have shared the fate we had just heard de- 
scribed. 

Robert Sutcliffe also had an experience that was 
near to tragedy : 

Our coachman was unable to see his way, in driving 
into the ferry boat, and the wheels on one side of the 
carriage passing into the boat whilst those on the other 
side went into the Delaware, we narrowly escaped a 
plunge into the water. . . . We all got out of the car- 
riage into the boat as well as we could; which was no 
very easy task, as it was quite dark, and we were with- 
out lamp or candle. The driver putting back his horses, 
got clear of the boat, and in his second attempt drove 
fairly into it, and we crossed the river without further 
accident. 

At about the same time the Traveller's Directory 
gave a better account of the crossing. Although this 

315 



OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 

was used every day by five four-horse stages between 
Philadelpbia and New York, "besides a great number 
of private carriages, chaises, horses, &c," the ferry 
boats made the trip "with the greatest safety from 
shore to shore, by means of poles, &c." 

Fortunately the optimist follows hard on the heels 
of the pessimist, not only on the Bristol turnpike, but 
on all roads, and at all times. 



316 



INDEX 



Abington Presbyterian Church, 264 
Academy of Natural Science, 160; 

Loller, 274; Lower Dublin, 297 
Accidents on road, 69, 121, 129. 134, 

307, 308 
Adventure of Thomas Chalkley, 291, 

292; of Elizabeth Drinker, 306; at 

Morrisville ferry, 315 
Agnew, Mary, Bayard Taylor 

mourns for, 94 
Alcott, Louisa May, birthplace, 213 
Allison, James, epitaph of, 238 
Amos, Philip, 299 
Andalusia, 301 
Andre, Major, 141, 248 
Andros, Sir Edward, 309 
Angel House, 185 
Annesley, James, "the wandering 

heir," 144 
Anthracite introduced into Philadel- 
phia, 181; discovered by Indians, 

167 
Arch, at Valley Forge, 162 
Arnold, Major General, 282 
Arrest of William Moore, 169 
Ashe, Thomas, 124 
Auction block for slaves, 23 
Audubon, John J., 190-196 
Auf-gehende Taune, 257 
Automobile anticipated, 78 
Avondale Place, 80 

Baily, Francis, 50, 115 
Bake-oven, outdoor, 107 
Bakewell, William, 192; William, 

Jr., 194; Lucy, 193; Mrs. William, 

196 
Ballygomingo, 157 
Barren HilC 184, 235 
Bartleson, Levi, 187; Mary, 187 
Bartram's Gardens, 34, 303 
Bartram, John, 34; William, 35, 36, 

38 



Battle of Brandywine, 38, 57, 59, 
92, 229, 247, 311; of Germantown, 
211, 237 

Bayou Sara, Mrs. Audubon, teacher 
at, 196 

Bayard, Thomas F., 66, 68, 75 

Becket, Liesel, nurse of Lafayette, 
254 

Belle Voir, 302 

Benger's Mount, 308 

Bernard, John, 315 

Bethlehem, 234, 253-255 

Bethlehem Road, 234 

Bible, first in European language in 
America, 212; Septuagint trans- 
lated by Charles Thomson, 149 

Bickley, Abraham, 302 

Biddle, Charles G., 301; Nicholas, 
301 

Biorck, Rev. Ericus, 72 

Bird-in-Hand Tavern, 158 

Blackbeard, the Pirate, 58, 302 

Black Valley, 231 

Blue Bell, 245 

Blue Bell Tavern, 42 

Boehm, John Philip, 245 

Bolton Farm, 313 

Bonaparte, Joseph, 308 

Bordentown, New Jersey, 308 

Boudinot, General, 241 

Bradford. William, 207 

Bradshaw, Samuel, 103 

Brandywine Baptist Church, 92 

Brandywine, battle of, 38, 57, 59, 92, 
229, 247, 311 

Brandywine, Meadows, 70 

Bray, C. W., 161 

"Breaking Home Ties," 218 

Breck, Samuel, 19, 71, 77, 175. 306 

Bridge, Gray's Ferry, 32; Ridley 

Creek, 48; Naaman's Creek, 

65; Washington's escape at, 69; 

Brandywine, 71, 92; Market street, 

317 



318 



INDEX 



Philadelphia, 111, 112; Monu- 
ment, 113;"FcederaI," 158;Perki- 
omen, 203; Neshaminy, 270; 
Morris ville, 287; Pennypack, 296; 
toll on, 305 

Bringhurst, John, 212 

Bristol, 309 

Bristol College, 309 

Bristol Town Hall, story of, 312 

British Grenadier, 249 

Broomall, 100 

Brown, Henry Arroitt, 162 

Brown, Peter, 25 

Buckingham Meeting House, 281 

Burr, Aaron, 151 

Burying ground, Harriton, 150; Fat- 
lands, 196; Providence, 201; Lower 
German town, 211; St. Michael's, 
215; Norriton, 223; Methacton, 
225; St. James'. 225; Trappe,229; 
St. Thomas', 237; Scull, 238; 
Christ churchyard, 269 

Bush, David, 70, 258 

Bush Hill, 22 

Butler, John, 305 

Butler Place, 263 

Camp Hill, 238 

Campbell, Rev. John, 202 

Canal, Leiper, 81, 82; Schuylkill, 232 

Cariisle, 118 

Cass, General Louis, 76 

Castle Rocks, 103 

Cave houses, 18 

Cedar Grove, 289 

Cemetery, West Laurel Hill, 150 

Center Point, 246 

Chadd's Ford, 79, 91 

Chalkley Hall, 290, 293 

Chalkley, Thomas, 291; Rebecca, 

292 
Champlost, Count de, 264 
Champlost Manor, 263 
Chancellor, William, 287 
Chester, 52, 56, 57 
Chester Heights, 90 
Chester Valley, 140 
Chestnut Hill, 216, 234 
Chew house, 215 



Chichester, 58 

Christiana, Fort, 69 

Churches, Gloria Dei, 39, 269; St, 
James of Kingsessing, 39; St. 
Paul's, Chester, 46; St. Martin's, 
Marcus Hook, 60; Old Swedes, 
Wilmington, 72; Crane Hook, 72; 
Trinity, Wilmington, 72; First 
Presbyterian, Wilmington, 73; 
Middletown, 87; Brandywine, 92; 
St. David's, 133, 134, 140, 168, 170, 
222; Great Valley, 142; St. James, 
Perkiomen, 168; St. James the 
Less, 181; Grace, Roxborough, 
185; Providence, 201; Market 
Square, Germantown, 214; St. 
Michael's, Germantown, 215; First 
M. E., Germantown, 215; Norri- 
ton, 222; Brethren, Germantown, 
225; St. James', Germantown, 226; 
Trappe, 226; St. Thomas', 234; 
Oxford, 235; Christ, Philadelphia, 
236; Abington, 264; Neshaminy of 
Warwick, 279; Neshaminy of 
Warminster, 280 

Church Hill, 237, 244 

Circle Line, 91, 220 

City History Society of Philadel- 
phia, 242 

Clay, Rev. Slator, 236 

Claymont, 60 

Clayton, William, 59; Thomas J., 60 

Cleaver, William, 161 

Cleveland, Grover, 76 

Clift, Samuel, 309 

Clifton Heights, 79 

Clock at Lower Dublin Academy, 
298 

Clock House, 304 

Clymer, George, 314 

Coaches in Philadelphia, 24, 25 

Coates, Thomas, 289 

Cole, Thomas, 73 

CoUegeville, 228 

Collinson, Peter, 38 

Coleman, William 232 

Colonial Dames, 143 

Colony in Schuylkill, 178, 302 

Columbia Hotel, Chester, 57 



INDEX 



319 



Copper Mine, 170, 201 
Concordville. 90 
Conestoga Road, 117 
Conshohocken, 186 
Corder, 61 

Cornwallis, surrender of, 33 
Corson, Hiram, 185; Joseph, 185 
Coryell, Abram, 282; Emmanuel, 

282; John. 282 
Coryell's Ferry, 282 
Coultas, James, 39, 41 
Council of war at Emlen House, 239 
Counterfeiters at Old Lower Inn, 252 
Country Club, Delaware County, 99 ; 

Whitemarsh Valley, 216 
Court House, removal from Chester, 

107, 108 
Craig,ColonelThomas,241; John,301 
Cramer, Cutty, 21 
Crane Hook Chxu-ch on Christiana, 

72 
Crawford, Joseph, Sr., 202 
"Creek Following," 99 
Crefeld, Germany, immigrants from, 

204 
Crooked Billet, tavern, 273; battle, 

277 
Croydon, 308 

Da Costa, overseer at Mill Grove, 

195 
Darby, 30, 42 
Darragh, Lydia, 240, 241 
Davies, President, of Princeton 

College, 202 
Davis, Mary, 257 
Dawesfield, 245 
Dean, W., 223 
Debt, in prison for, 217, 268 
Decatur, Stephen, 290, 297 
Delamore Place, 75 
Delaware Historical Society, 73 
Devereux, Emlen, 238 
DeWarville, Jean P. Brissot, 101 
DeWees, Mrs. Mary, 124 
Diggs, Anne, 266 
Dilworthtown, 92 
Dove paper mill, 147 
Powningtown, 143, 144 



Doyle. William, 271 

Doylestown. 271 

Drinker, Elizabeth, 121. 182, 262, 

272. 305; Henry, 262 
Duels near Claymont. 66 
Duffield, Edward, 298 
Dunk's Ferry, 304 
Durham, 271 
"Dutch baptism good enough for 

blacks." 227 
D wight, Margaret. 126 

Eagle School at Strafford. 135 

East Cain Meeting House, 143 

Easton. 265 

Eavenson, Francis, V.. 201 

Eberlein, Harold Donaldson, 99 

Eddington, 305 

Edisonville. 270 

Egypt, Fat Lands of, 189; road, 188 

Ellery. William. 301 

Ellis, Rowland, 148 

Emigrants on Lancaster road, 123, 

124 
Emlen House, 238 
Engart, John S., 278 
Epitaphs, 40, 88, 89, 136. 170, 196, 

202, 211. 223. 225. 238, 270 
Escape of soldiers at Naaman's 

Creek, 64 
Essington, 44 
Ettwein, Rev. John, 254 
Evans. Oliver, 286 

Faber, Elijah, 239 

Fahnestock, Gideon, 142 

Fair Hill, 293 

Fairview Hill. 224 

Fairview Inn, 224 

Falckner, Daniel, 183 

Falls of Schuylkill, 177, 180; of Sus- 
quehanna, 214; of Delaware, 285 

Farmar, Edward, 235, 237; Jaspar, 
235 

"Farthest inland point reached by 
British," 171 

Fat Lands of Egypt, 189 

Fatlands, 192 

"Fearnought," 180 



320 



INDEX 



Ferguson, Henry Hugh, 269 

Ferry, Gray's, 30, 31; at Wilming- 
ton, 70; at Market street, Phila- 
delphia, 110; Harris', 207; Beth- 
lehem. 253; Wells', 271; CoryeU's, 
282; Morrisville, 287, 315; Dunk's. 
304 

Ferryboats at Schuylkill described, 
111 

Fishing for shad, 178, 200; Washing- 
ton fishes for trout, 170 

Fishing Club, State in Schuylkill, 
302 

Fitch, John, 277 

Fitzpatrick, James, highwayman, 
103, 105, 106 

"Flash Sandy," highwayman, 103, 
105, 106 

"Flourishing State of Pennsyl- 
vania," Judge Holmes lives in, 296 

Flying Machine, 286 

Forge, first at Pottsville, 231 

Forrest Home for Actors, 296 

Fort St. David's, 303; Washington, 
248 

Foulke House, 248 

Fox, George, 264 

Fox hunting. 85, 86 

Frankford, 285, 288 

Franklin, Benjamin, 23, 38, 54, 111, 
180, 219, 220, 280, 298 

Fraeme, Richard, 206 

Frazer. Susan Carpenter, 143 

Frey, Heinrich, 257 

Fritsch, Sister Catherine, 119 

Garden, Andrew, 135 

Gardens, The Woodlands, 27; 

Gray's, 31; Bartram's, 34 
General Wayne Tavern, 295 
Germantown, 204-214 
Germantown, Battle of, 211, 237 
Germantown Road, 204, 208-210 
Gibbons, David, 145 
Gibbs, Josiah W., 296 
Gilbert Stuart, 212 
Gilpin, Gideon, 92 
Girard College, 176, 177, 301 
Girard, Stephen, 176 
Glen Mills, 90 



Glenwood Hall, 226 

Gloria Dei, 39 

Gloucester Fox Hunting Club, 85 

Graeme, Dr., 268; Elizabeth, 269 

Graeme Park, 265. 276 

Grange Farm, 263 

Gray, George, 31 

Gray's Ferry, 30, 31 

Great Southern Post Road. 30 

Great Valley Presbyterian Church, 

142 
Grumble thorpe, 251 
Gulph Road. 147 
Gulph Rock, 153 
Gulph Mill, 157, 238 

Halliwell, barn at, 270 

Hamilton, Alexander, 280; Andrew, 

27, 145; Henry. 202; James. 22, 27, 

170; John, 202; William, 27, 122, 

123, 132, 145 
Hardships of soldiers at Valley 

Forge, 162-166; at Whitemarsh, 

239 
Harmanville, 185 
Harrisburg, 146 
Harris' Ferry, 207 
Harrison, Richard, 148; Hannah, 149 
Harriton house, 148 
Hartsville, 279 

Hatboro, 265; library at, 270, 274 
Haverford College, 129; Meeting, 

128, 129 
Headquarters of Washington, 163, 

238, 245, 246, 247, 280, 282 
Heebner, Jacob, 231 
Heijt, Hans Yost, 247 
Henry, Mrs. Seton, 302 
Hermits of the Wissahickon, 183 
Hickory town, 218 
High Bridge Tavern, 182 
Highlands, 244 

Highwayman, 103, 105, 106. 174 
Holme, John, 207, 296; Thomas, 16, 

103, 235, 297, 299 
Holmesburg, 296 
Holstein, Peter, 187 
Hood, Thomas. 27 
Hope, Henry, 242 



INDEX 



321 



Hope Lodge, 242 

Horsham Meeting, 265 

Houckgeest, Andreas Everard us Van 
Braam, 308 

Houses, Woodlands, 28; John Bar- 
tram, 34; Whitby Hall, 40; Caleb 
Pusey, 55; Naaman's Creek, 64; 
Poplar Grove, 68; Tatnall, 74; 
Richardson, 74; Delamore Place, 
75; Latimeria, 76; Benjamin 
West, 79; Avondale Place, 79, 80; 
Lapidea, 82; Sharpless, 84; Deane 
Mansion, 93; John Yarnall, 106; 
Pont Reading, 128; Waynesbor- 
ough, 137; Harriton, 148; Poplar 
Lane, 159; Moore Hall, 167; The 
Knoll, 170; Jones Mansion, 171 
Sweetbriar, 175; Angel, 185 
Yerkes, 185; Legaux, 186; Mill 
Grove, 189; Fatlands, 189, 192 
John Price Wetherill, Sr., 200 
Umstad Manor, 201; Wagner 
211; Ottinger, 211; Toland, 211 
Christopher] Sauer, 212; Wister, 
213; Louisa May Alcott, 213 
Morris. 213; Foulke, 213, 248 
Chew, 215; Wyck, 215; David 
Rittenhouse, 219; Dean, 223; Dr 
Muhlenburg, 228; Emlen, 238 
Van Rensselaer, 238; Hope Lodge, 
242; Highlands, 244; Dawesfield 
245; Wentz, 246; Pennypacker's 
Mills, 247; Grumblethorpe, 251 
Single Brethren, 254; Stenton, 260, 
261; Butler Place, 263, Cham 
plost, 263; Grange Farm, 263 
Roadside, 264; The Ivy, 264 
Graeme Park, 265; Engart. 278 
Robbins, 280; Parry, 283; Neeley 
283; Cedar Grove. 289; Decatur, 
290; Wain Grove, 290; Chalkley 
Hall, 290; Port Royal, 290; Fair 
Hill, 293; Edwin Forrest Home, 
296; Andalusia, 301; Penn Rhyn, 
302; Clock House, 304; Rocky 
Mount, 308; China Hall, 308; 
Bolton Farm, 313; Clymer, 314 

Hovenden, Thomas, 217, 218 

Hughes, Griffith, 134; High. 158. 
Isaac, 158, 235; John, 158, 187 



Huling, Marcus, 200 
Hunting at Claymont, 62; fox hunt- 
ing, 85. 86 
Hurry, William, 229 

Independence Bell taken to Beth- 
lehem, 254 

Independence, Declaration of, 68, 
229 

Independence Hall, 186 

Indian critics, 260 

Indian trails, 65, 110, 173 

Indians discover hard coal, 167 

Ingham's Great Spring, 281 

Ivy, the, 264 

Ivy Mill, 90 

James & Drake, tea importers, 292 

Jefferson, Thomas, 38, 84 

Jeff er son ville. 201 

Johnstown flood memorial, curious, 

202 
Jones Mansion, 171 
Jones, Robert, 171 
Joseph, son of Tamane, 257 

Kalm, Peter, 17, 22, 25, 70, 272, 295 
Kane, Elisha Kent, 84 
Keith, Sir William, 265, 268; prop- 
erty of, 268 
Kelpius, John, 183 
Kemp, Sergeant Andersen. 164 
Kennett Square, 79, 92 
Kennett, story of, 85, 93, 103 
King of Prussia Tavern, 160 
Kingsessing, St. James, Church of, 39 
King's Highway, 30 
Kirk. John, 179 
Kirkbride, Joseph, 271 
Kitanning Path, 110 
Kite, William, 21 
Knoll, the, 170 
Kyn, Joran, 55 

Lacey, General, 276 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 92, 132, 137, 

164, 185, 254, 280, 281, 303 
La Haska, Vale of. 281 
Lambert's Villainy, 282 
Lambertville, 282 



322 



INDEX 



La Mott, 264 
y Lancaster, 118, 145 

Lancaster Road, 110, 207 

Lapidea, 82 

Landau, 226 

Langhorne, Jeremiah, 271 

Latimer, John R., 76 

Latimeria, 76 

Laxley, Captain Benjamin, 299 

Lead mines, 199 

Lee, Light Horse Harry, 64 

Leedom, William, 314 

Legaux House, 186 

Legaux, Peter, 186 

Lehigh Valley Transit Company, 234 

Leiper, Eliza, 47; Thomas, 79, 80, 81, 
82; George Grey, 82 

Leiperville, 83 

Leiperville Presbyterian Church, 84 

Leni Lenape Indians, 257 

Levering's Ford, 179 

Lexington, Battle of, 288 

Library at Hatboro, 270, 274 

Lima, 89 

Limekiln, 173 

Lime making and hauling, 154 

Line Wagon Company, 118 

Log College, 279 

Logan, James, 260, 266, 285, 302; 
Deborah, 261; Mary, 293 

LoUer Academy, 274 

Ix)ller, Robert, 276 

Longfellow's poem on St. David's, 
134 

Longstreth, John, 171 

Lottery for Church, 223; for Aca- 
demy, 297 

Loveland Hall, 226 

Lower Dublin Academy, 297 

Ludwig, Christopher, 215, 216 

McDougall, General, 152 

McFadden, George H., 132 

McKean, Thomas, 68 

McLane, Captain Allen, 184 

Mackraby, Alexander, 23, 310 

Malvern, 139 

" Man who always speaks the truth," 

149 
Manoa Road, 99 



Maple sugar experiment, failure of, 

262 
Marcus Hook, 58 
Market in Philadelphia, 22 
Markham, Governor William, 173 
Marshall, John, 280 
Martin, D. C, 130; Walter, 60 
Mason and Dixon Line, 220 
Mason, Jonathan, 20 
Masonic Lodge, 243 
Mather Peter, 141 
Matlack, Timothy, 197 
Media, 84, 86 
Meeting Houses, Chichester, 58; 

Newtown, 102; Middletown, 107; 

Haverford, 128; Radnor, 133; 

East Cain, 143; near Fatlands, 

196; Plymouth, 218; Methacton, 

224; Abington, 264; Horsham, 

265, Buckingham, ,281; Bristol, 

310 
Melish, John, 26, 30, 97, 265, 307 
Methacton Mennonite Meeting 

House, 224 
Middletown Meeting, 107 
Middletown Presbyterian Church, 87 
Mifflin, Thomas, 180 
Milestones, 143, 210, 294 
MUitia Hill, 235 
Millbourne Mill, 98 
Mill Grove, 189, 199, 200 
Mill on Pennypack, 297 
Miller, George, 211 
Mineral Springs, 289, 312 
Mines, lead, 199; Copper, 201 
Minuit, Peter, 72 
Monroe, James, 280, 283 
Montgomery Square, 252 
Montgomeryville, 252 
Moore, William, 167, 169; James, 

283 
Moore Hall, 167, 170 
Morgan, James, 199 
Morris, Gouverneur, 170; Robert, 

177, 185, 216; Morris 242: Samuel. 

242, 243; Anthony, 244. 313; 

Effingham B., 313 
Morris' Folly, 185, 186, 217 
Morris House, Germantown, 213 
Morrisville, 285, 314 



INDEX 



323 



Morse, Samuel F. B., 307 

Morton, John, 44, 45 

Moses, Margaret, 229 

Mott, Lucretia, 264 

Mt. Kirk, 203 

Mud on German town road, 208; on 

Old York road, 259 
Muhlenberg, Henry Melchior, 226, 

230; Frederick Augustus, 244 

Naaman, Indian Chief, 62 

Naaman's Creek, 62, 63 

Narberth, 147 

Naturalist, Audubon the, 192 

Neef, Joseph, 181 

Neeley House, 283 

Neshaminy Creek, 270, 280, 305 

Neshaminy of Warminster Presby- 
terian Church, 280; of Warwick 
Presbyterian Church, 279 

New Castle, Delaware, 23, 91, 220 

New Hope, 272 

Newtown Meeting, 102 

Newtown Square, 102 

Nicetown, 281 

Nicholson, John, 182 

Noblit, WUliam, 87 _ 

Norrington, township of, 187 

Norris, Isaac. 150, 187, 189, 293 

Norristown, 187 

Norriton Presbyterian Church, 222 

Nugent, George, 159 

Ogontz, 264 

Ohio River, Audubon on, 195 

Old Lower Inn, 252 

Old York Road, 257 

Old Swedes' Church, Wilmington, 72 

Olethelo, 188 

Optimist and pessimist, 50, 316 

Oructor Amphibolis, 287 

Ottinger, Douglas, 211 

Packhorses, 117 

Paine, Thomas, 163 

Palmer, George, 289 

Pannebecker, Hendrick, 243 

Paoli, 130 

PaoH Massacre, 139, 246 



Paper Mill, 90, 219 
Parry, Benjamin, 283 
Parry, Rich Randolph, 283 
Paschall, Mrs. Joseph, 289 
Pastoral work of Dr. Muhlenberg, 

228 
Pastorius, Francis Daniel, 204, 214, 

215 
Pawling, Henry, 201 
Peale, Rembrandt, 277 
Pemberton, Phineas, 309; Mary, 

313 
Peminacha, Indian sachem, 63 
Penalties for avoiding toll, 175, 209 
Penllyn, 248 
Penn, William, 15, 16, 19, 55, 91, 93, 

98, 103, 127, 128, 129, 235, 271, 

308, 309, 314; John, 140, 142; 

Letitia, 166; Hannah, 266; 

Thomas and Richard, 232 
Pennsbury, 313 
Pennypack Creek, 296 
Pennypacker,ElijahF.,171; Isaac R., 

230; Samuel W., 138, 247 
Pennypacker's Mills, 247 
Penrose, Morris B., 267 
" Pensilvania " described, 206 
Perkiomen Creek, 190, 191, 229, 247 
Perkiomen bridge, 174, 203, 226 
Pessimist and optimist, 50, 316 
Pestalozzi, 181 
"Peveril of the Peak," 195 
Philadelphia, Penn's prospectus of, 

15; streets in, 16; sale of lots in, 

17; primitive water works, 20, 21; 

fairs in, 22; market in, 22; coaches, 

24; women criticized, 24 
Philadelphia Contributionship's mile- 
stones, 294 
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, 

306 
Phillips, George, 25, 43 
Phcenixville, 151, 167, 171, 188 
Pickering, Colonel, 179 
Pike, General, Hotel, 171 
Pittsburgh, 118 
Plattenbach, Joseph, 257 
Plymouth Meeting, 217, 218, 242 
Polk, James K., 75 
Pont Reading, 128 



324 



INDEX 



Poole, William, 65 

Poplar Lane, 159 

Port Chester, 232 

Port Royal, 290 

Porteus, James, 263 

Postage, cost of, by stage, 232 

Pott. John, 231; Joshua, 275 

Potts, Isaac, 163. 166 

Potts Quarry, 186 

Pottstown, 231 

Pottsville, 231 

Powder, transportation of, 287 

Pownall, Thomas, 17. 18, 52, 70, 111, 
140, 207 

Prayer, Bayard Taylor's, 94; William 
Penn's, 128; Washington's at 
Valley Forge, 167 

Priest, William, 19. 24, 52, 71. 273 

Princeton College, 220, 279 

Printz, Governor, 42, 43, 62, 63 

Prophecy, mistaken as to Philadel- 
phia, 17; of country's growth, 26; 
of locomotive's speed, 77; of John 
Pott, 232; of Oliver Evans, 286 

Protest against shad dam, 200; to a 
tea importer, 292 

Providence Presbyterian Church, 
201 

Pusey, Caleb, 55 

Pyle, Howard, 75 

Queen's Road, 30 

Radnor Hunt, 85 

Radnor Meeting, 133 

Railroad, Leiper, 81, 82; West 

Chester, 109; Philadelphia and 

Columbia, 126; John Pott's, 231; 

Philadelphia and Trenton, 306 
Railroads, prophecy as to speed of, 

77; disparaged, 77 
Rambo's Rock, 303 
Read, Thomas Buchanan, verses of, 

166, 184 
Reading, 231, 232 
Redemptioners, 23, 144, 258 
Redoubts, at Philadelphia, 33; at 

Wilmington, 70 
Reformed Church in Germantown, 

Pastorius, 214 



Refugees from Philadelphia, in 1777, 
230 

Richardson, John, 74; Joseph, 188 

Ridley, Joseph Paul, 173 

Righter. Harry S.. 186 

Rightinghuisen, William, 206 

Rising, John, 63 

Rising Sun. 240. 257 

Rittenhouse, David, 180, 219, 254; 
William, 206 

Rittenhouse Orrery, the, 220 

Roads, appeal for good, 41; bad, 51, 
52, 57, 96, 122, 133. 208, 306 

Roadbuilders' complaint. 113 

Road regulations in Lancaster, 115; 
Germantown, 209 

Road notes of a Lancaster surveyor, 
116, 117 

Road, profits of turnpike. 120 

Roads, Queens, 30; Great Southern 
Post. 30. 31; King's Highway. 30; 
Gray's Ferry, 30, 31 ; King's Great 
Road. 31; Baltimore, 77; Provi- 
dence, 84; Rose Tree, 85; Edge- 
mont. 87; Wilmington. 90; West 
Chester, 96; Strasburg, 97; Manoa, 
99; Goshen. 103; Lancaster. 110 
Conestoga,117;Ithan,132;Church, 
133, 235; Valley, 135; Sugartown, 
137; Lionville, 143; Roberts, 147 
Ridge. 173; Egypt, 188; German 
town, 204; Bethlehem, 234; Frank 
ford, 240; Nicetown Lane, 240 
Skippack, 243; Old York, 257 
Doylestown, 265; Keith, 265 
Buckingham, 271; New Hope, 
283; Bristol, 285; Dunk's Ferry, 
304; China Lane, 308; Beaver 
Dam, 313 

Robbins, R. Sherman, 280 

Roberts, Mary, 150 

Robinson, John, 65; Thomas, 64, 65; 
Mrs. Edna A., 65 

Robinson House at Naaman's Creek, 
64 

Rocky Mount, 308 

Rose. Aquila, 110 

Rose Tree Hunt, 85, 86 

Rough traveling of S. F. B. Morse, 
307 



INDEX 



325 



Saratoga Springs, 312 

Sauer, Christopher, 212, 224, 225 

SchoefiP, Johann, 119. 146, 154, 286, 
300 

School, old time building, 46, 90; 
Octagon, 102; Eagle, 135; Letitia 
Penn's, 166; at Engart Place, 278; 
rules at Lower Dublin Academy, 
298; Bristol College, 309 

Schoolmaster, sold as redemptioner. 
23 

Scott, John R, K., 161 

Scull, Nicholas, 91, 238 

Schuylkill, bowers of beauty on, 27 

Schuylkill Canal, 232 

Sellers, Samuel, 98 

Sentence of homesick soldier, 240 

Seven Counties View, 203 

Shad fishing, 178, 200. 201 

Sharpless, Isaac, 84; John, 84 

Sheaff, George, 244, 245; John D. T., 
244 

Shewell, Elizabeth, romance of, 53 

Shoemakertown, 264 

"Short Description of Germantown" 
in rhyme, 206 

Shrack, John Jacob, 226 

Single Brethren House, Bethlehem 
254 

Skippack road, 243 

Slaves attempt to poison family, 
148; runaway advertised for, 168 

Sleary, Sarah, 264 

Sleighing, 215, 273, 310 

Slough, Matthias, his complaint, 113 

Smith, Dr. William, 169, 180 

Soldiers quartered at Bristol, 311 

Sons of the Revolution, 151 

Spencer, James, 275 

Spring House, 248 

Spring Mill, 186 

Springs, Bath, near Bristol, 311 

Stage coach described, 49, 50, 61 ; to 
West Chester, 97; rates of fare, 98; 
journey described, 101; first on 
Lancaster Pike, 115; burned, 129; 
highwaymen attack, 174; early 
drivers, 231, 232; first from Phila- 
delphia to New York, 285 

Sta^l, William, 233 



Stamm, Conrad, 225 

Stanley, John E., 99 

State in Schuylkill, 178, 302 

Stenton, 260, 281, 293 

Stiles, Edward, 290 

Strafford, 135 

Strasburg Road, 97 

Strength-testing boulder, 267 

Stretch, Thomas, 303 

Stuyvesant, Peter, 63 

Sugartown Road, 137 

Sullivan, General, pontoon bridge, 

197 
St. David's Church, 133, 140, 168, 

170, 222 
St. James', Perkiomen, 168 
St. James the Less, 181 
St. Luke's Reformed Church, 226 
St. Michael's Lutheran Church, 215 
Sally Wister, 248 
Sully, Thomas, 244 
Surveyor's notes on Lancaster Pike, 

116 
Sutcliffe, Robert, 123, 129,^173, 178, 

197, 260, 315 
Swarthmore, 79; College, 79 
Swede's Ford, 186 
Swedes settle Fort Christiana, 69 
Sweetbriar, 175 

Tamane, Indian chief, 257, 271 

Tatnall, Edward, 74 

Taverns, Blue Bell, 42; White Herse, 
44, 130; Washington, Chester, 56; 
Columbia, Chester, 57; Bull's 
Head, 81; Rose Tree, 84; Provi- 
dence, 84; Coffee House, 85; 
Black Horse, 87; Pineapple, 89; 
Unicorn, 93; Drove, 100; Turk's 
Head, 107, 108; Paoli, 123; Buck, 
130; General Wayne, 130, 140, 
295; Plough, 130; Sorrel Horse, 
132; Admiral Vernon, 140; Ad- 
miral Warren, 140; "The Dutch 
Tavern," 142; Sheaf of Wheat, 
143; Ship, 143; Exton, 143; Swan, 
144; Bird-in-Hand, 158; King of 
Prussia, 160; General Pike, 171; 
Fountain, 171; High Bridge, 182; 
Yerkes, 185; Green Tree, 215; 



326 



INDEX 



Fairview, 224; Wheel Pump, 234; 
Rising Sun, 240; Walker. 252; Old 
Lower, 252; Red Lion, 260, 299; 
Horsham, 270; Crooked Billet, 
273; Washington, Holmesburg, 
295; Dunk's Ferry, 305; Morris- 
ville, 314 

Taverns, Alexander Wilson's Verses 
on, 101; fare provided, 125, 300, 
301; trying entertainment at, 182, 
183; signs, 300 

Taylor. Bayard, 85, 92, 94, 95, 103, 
104 

Taylorsville (Washington crossing), 
283 

Taxes after the Revolution, 155 

Tennent, Gilbert, 279 

Thomas, Jane, 161 

Thomson, Charles, 149, 150, 151 

Thomson, John, 81, 82 

Tilly, Major, and the British grena- 
dier, 248-251 

Toast of the wagon drivers, 132 

Tobacco, primitive method of haul- 
ing to market, 149 

Toll, at Ridley Creek, 48; at Sus- 
quehanna, 48; at ferry on Schuyl- 
kill, 110; at Market Street bridge, 
112; on Bristol Road, 287; on 
Neshaminy bridge, 305 

Toll gates, on King's Highway, 46; 
on Lancaster Pike, 119, 120; on 
Ridge Road, 175; penalty for 
avoiding, 175, 209 

Trails, Indian, 65, 110, 173 

Translation of Bible, 149 

Trappe, 226; poem on, 230 

Trappe Lutheran Church, 226 

Trent Town, 279 

Trenton, 305 

Trenton, Battle of, 282,283, 284, 305 

Trick House, 106 

Trinity Church, Wilmington, 72 

Tullytown, 313 

Turk's Head Tavern, 108 

Twining, Thomas, 32, 49 

Umbilicamence, 235 
Umstad Manor, 201 
Underground Railway, 144, 171, 172 



Unicom Tavern, 93 
University of Pennsylvania, 220 
Upland, 55 
Ursinus College, 226 

Valley Forge. 132, 151, 165, 161-5, 

197, 224, 238, 244 
Valley Forge Park, 162 
Valley Road, 135 
Varian, P. R., 159 
Varnum, General, 163 
Vaux, James, 192 
Vaux Hall, 197, 198 
Vehicles on turnpikes, 98, 115, 209 
Venus, transit of, 219 
"Victory or Death," 284 
Vineyard, the first of any size in 

country, 186 

Waldo. Albigence, 153, 165 
Walker Inn, 252 
Wain, Richard, 264 
Wain, Robert, 290 
Wain Grove, 290 
Walnut Grove, 158, 187 
"Wandering Heir, The," 144 
War of 1812 stops lead imports, 199 
Washington, George, in the mud, 20; 
at Gray's Ferry, 32; death an- 
nounced, 33; at Bartram's Gar- 
dens, 38; Whitby Hall, 42; letter 
about coach repairs, 49; at Wash- 
ington House, Chester, 57; at 
Naaman's Creek, 64; visits Wil- 
mington, 69; narrow escape at 
bridge, 69; wooden statue of at 
Wilmington, 74; at Brandy wine, 
91; guards approach to Philadel- 
phia, 97; on Goshen road, 103; 
letter from Buck tavern, 130; 
Gulph Mills marker to, 151; 
thanks officers and men, 152; at 
Valley Forge, 163; at prayer, 166; 
revisits Valley Forge, 170; goes 
fishing, 170; at Mt. Joy, 186; 
Crossing of Delaware, 202; portrait 
of, 212; chariot of, 212;in German- 
town, 213; and Christopher 
Sauer, 224; at Whitemarsh, 234; 



INDEX 



327 



at Emien House. 238, 239; offers 
reward for prompt completion 
of huts, 162; offers reward for 
substitutes for shoes, 239; at 
Dawesfield, 245; at Center Point, 
246; at Bethlehem, 254; samples 
George Drinker's maple sugar, 
262; at Crooked Billet, 274; orders 
patrol of country between rivers, 
276; at Little Neshaminy, 280; 
a visitor's impression of, 283; 
triumphal procession for, 288; 
guards Dunk's Ferry, 305 

Washington, D. C, burning of, 
33 

Washington House, Chester, 56 

Water works, primitive, 20, 21 

Watmough, James Horatio, 242 

Watts, Dr. Isaac, 87 

Wayne, General Anthony, 65, 137, 
138, 139, 237, 245 

Waynesboro ugh, 137 

Webster, Daniel, 302 

Weedon, General, 161, 165. 245 

Welsh settlers west of Philadelphia, 
127 

Wentz, George J., 242; Peter, 246 

West, Benjamin, 53, 79, 302 

West Chester, 96, 109 

Wetherill, Samuel, 199; Samuel & 
Sons, 199; William, 199; John 
Price, Sr., 200 

Wheatley, Charles, 170 

Whitby Hall, 39 

Whitefield, George, 279J 



Whitemarsh, 234; hardships of 

soldiers at, 239 
Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, 

216 
Whittier, John G., lines on "Chalk- 
ley Hall," 293 
Willcox, Thomas, 90 
"Willing Town," 258 
Willow Grove, 265, 266 
Wilmington, 69 
Wilson, Alexander, verse on an inn, 

101 
Wingohocking, Indian chief, 261 
Wissahickon. 174, 183, 213, 304; 

hermits of, 183 
Wister. Sally, 213, 238, 248; Mrs. 

Sarah Butler, 261 ; Owen, 263 
Wonien of Philadelphia, Mackraby's 

opinion of, 23 
Wood, price of, 272 
Woodlands, The, 27 
Woodmen, social standing of, 61 
Worrall, H. M., 46 
Wrangel, Dr., rector of St. James of 

Kingsessing, 40 
Wrangletown, 89 
Wyck, 215 

Yarnall, Philip, 89; Joseph, 89; John, 

106; Isaac, 107 
Yellow fever, 173, 213 
Yerkes, Harman, 185 

Zinzendorf, Count, preaches in Ger- 
mantown, 214 



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